1The Minnesota volleyball team (20-2, 9-1) remained at No. 2 for a third week in a row in the USA Today/CSTV Top-25 poll tabulated by the AVCA, which was released on Monday, Oct. 25. Minnesota gained 13 points with 1,521 points for the week.

Washington was the No. 1 team for a fourth week in a row. Minnesota and USC are the only other teams to be ranked No. 1 this season. The Golden Gophers were No. 1 on Sept. 13-27, while USC was No. 1 for the first two weeks of the season.

It marked the seventh straight week that Minnesota has occupied one of the three spots in the poll, and the 10th straight week it has been in the top five. The Golden Gophers are the only team in the nation to have remained in the top five for all nine weeks of the poll.

Minnesota's streak in the top five dates back to last year's final No. 4 ranking.

The Golden Gophers swept a pair of three-game matches at Indiana and Purdue this past week. With an Ohio State loss on Oct. 23, Minnesota moved into a tie for first place in the Big Ten at 9-1. The Golden Gophers have won 24 of their last 28 Big Ten matches dating back to Sept. 27, 2003.

Minnesota is off to a 9-1 Big Ten start for the third time in school history. The Golden Gophers' other 9-1 starts came in 2000 (2nd place in Big Ten) and 2002 (1st place in the Big Ten).

The Golden Gophers join three other Big Ten teams in the Top-25 this week. Joining the Golden Gophers in the top 10 are No. 6 Penn State and No. 7 Ohio State. Illinois is also ranked No. 21. The Big Ten is the only conference in the nation to have three teams in the top 10.

Minnesota will head to Northwestern to take on the Wildcats on Friday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. The Golden Gophers will also travel to Wisconsin on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. The Minnesota-Wisconsin match will be telecast on a tape- delayed basis on ESPN 2 on Sunday, Oct. 31 at 1:30 p.m.

Rank School (First-Place Votes) Total Points * 2004 Record Last Week 1 Washington (63) 1,623 17-0 1 2 Minnesota 1,521 20-2 2 3 Hawai'i (2) 1,495 18-0 3 4 Nebraska 1,451 17-1 4 5 Southern California 1,349 12-3 6 6 Penn State 1,250 17-2 5 7 Ohio State 1,219 19-1 7 8 Florida 1,202 18-2 8 9 Colorado State 1,049 16-2 9 10 Texas 1,036 17-2 10 11 Stanford 953 15-5 11 12 UCLA 918 13-5 12 13 California 780 11-7 13 14 Saint Mary's (Calif.) 700 17-2 15 15 Texas A&M 658 12-5 16 16 Tennessee 531 19-2 17 17 Utah 519 16-3 14 18 Kansas State 485 13-7 18 19 Santa Clara 443 14-4 19 20 UC Santa Barbara 417 14-3 20 21 Illinois 365 14-5 24 22 San Diego 317 14-4 22 23 Louisville 305 18-2 21 24 Arizona 171 12-7 23 25 Florida A&M 132 17-2 25 Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Missouri 55, Rice 54, Ohio 45, Georgia Tech 38, Long Beach State 17, Notre Dame 6, Wisconsin 6, Loyola Marymount 5, Pacific 5