Minnesota will try to break its 14-year old attendance record when it hosts Illinois at Williams Arena on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. It willbe the first time the Golden Gophers have played a game at Williams Arena since 1993. Minnesota's last match at Williams was a five-game loss at the hands of Notre Dame in the NCAA Regional Semifinals on Dec. 10, 1993. That match drew the second-largest crowd in school history at 6,002. The attendance record for Minnesota volleyball was set on Sept. 28, 1990 when 6,046 fans came to see Minnesota take on Purdue. The Golden Gophers started playing in the Sports Pavilion in 1994. Minnesota's most attended match at the Sports Pavilion, of 5,840, came when it took on No. 1 Penn State on Nov. 19, 1999. Minnesota enters the match ranked No. 2 with a 17-2 overall record and is 6-1 in Big Ten play. Illinois is ranked No. 23 and is 12-3 overall and 4-2 in Big Ten play.

The Golden Gophers enter the week on an 11-match home winning streak. Minnesota won its last three matches at home in 2003, including first and second round NCAA Tournament matches. The Golden Gophers have started out the 2004 season with eight straight home wins. Minnesota is just two wins from tying its longest home-winning streak in school history. That record occurred last year from Sept. 6 to Nov. 15, 2003.

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF version of these notes. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader, download it for free!