Senior middle blocker Meredith Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) was named Big Ten Volleyball Co-Player of the Week for Monday, Oct. 2. It was the first time a Golden Gophers had received Big Ten Player of the Week honors since Kelly Bowman claimed it on Oct. 25, 2004

Nelson, who received Big Ten Player of the Week for the first time in her career, joins Bowman as one of two current Golden Gophers to have received the honors in their career. Minnesota has now won two Big Ten weekly honors, as Nelson joins Malama Peniata (Plymouth, Minn.) who won defensive player of the week honors for Sept. 18.

In two matches last week, Nelson averaged 4.00 kpg, hit .313 and had 0.75 blpg. She had a career-high 24 kills and hit .476 (24-4-42) in a five-game win over Michigan State. Nelson also had eight kills and five blocks in a three-game sweep against Michigan on Sept. 29.

On Sept. 23, Nelson became the 18th player in school history to record 1,000 career kills. She is just 36 blocks from becoming the third player in school history to reach 500 career blocks.

Nelson enters the week averaging 3.14 kpg, with 0.80 blpg and is hitting .301 for the season.

Minnesota will be back in action on Friday, Oct. 6 when it travels to No. 2 Penn State to face the Nittany Lions at 6 p.m. (CT). That match will be televised on a tape-delayed basis on Comcast Chicago on Sunday at 12 p.m. The Golden Gophers will also travel to No. 13 Ohio State on Sunday, Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. (CT).