• Minnesota will play a pair of Big Ten matches on the week. The Golden Gophers will travel to Madison, Wis. to face No. 10 Wisconsin on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. Minnesota will return home to host Iowa on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. The Golden Gophers enter the week having won 17 of their last 20 matches. Minnesota is 19-7 overall and 13-3 in Big Ten play. The Golden Gophers are tied for second place with Wisconsin. The Badgers are also 13-3 in conference play, and sit at 21-5 overall on the season. Iowa enters the week with a 13-15 overall record, and is in 10th place in the Big Ten at 2-14.

• Minnesota will honor its four seniors after Saturday’s match against Iowa. The Golden Gophers will have a ceremony to celebrate the careers of Kelly Bowman, Meghan Cumpston, Meredith Nelson and Malama Peniata. Since the arrival of Cumpston last year, Minnesota has gone 42-15 overall and 27-9 in Big Ten play. Bowman, Nelson and Peniata are 101-29 overall and 59-17 in Big Ten play. In their careers, Minnesota has advanced to two Final Fours (2003 & 2004), a National Title match (2004) and never finished below third place in the Big Ten. Individually, Bowman and Peniata each reached the 1,000-dig mark. Peniata is just 26 digs from becoming the second player in school history to reach 1,300 digs in a career. Nelson became just the third player in school history to record 1,000 career kills and 500 career blocks. She is just 30 blocks from tying the school record. Cumpston enters the week with 814 career kills spanning her two years at Arizona and her career at Minnesota.

• Minnesota is 17-3 since starting out the season 2-4. The Golden Gophers’ only three losses in that stretch have come at the hands of No. 3 Penn State (twice) and at Michigan. During the 20-match stretch, Minnesota is holding its opponents to a .153 hitting percentage. The Golden Gophers also have 16.18 kpg to 13.23 kpg for their opposition. They are also averaging 1.87 sapg to 1.11 sapg, and 2.99 blpg. Meredith Nelson has 3.30 kpg, is hitting .311 and has 0.94 blpg in that stretch. Kyla Roehrig has 3.27 kpg in the same stretch, while Jessy Jones has 1.34 blpg. Rachel Hartmann has 12.75 apg and 0.79 blpg, while Malama Peniata has 5.38 dpg.

• The Golden Gophers enter their final four matches of the season in second place in the Big Ten with a 13-3 record. Minnesota sits in a tie with No. 10 Wisconsin who is also 13-3. Penn State is in first place by one match at 14-2. Purdue and Ohio State are tied for fourth place at 9-7. The following is a breakdown of the remaining schedules for the top three teams in the Big Ten:

Minn. (13-3) Wis. (13-3) PSU (14-2)
at Wis. MINN at MSU
IOWA IOWA at Mich.
at Pur. at Ind. ILL
at Ind. at Pur. NU

• Minnesota and Wisconsin resume the TDS Border Battle this week. The Border Battle enters its third year. The Golden Gophers claimed it last year, while the Badgers won the first year. Wisconsin is out to an early 175 to 25 lead, with women’s volleyball having claimed 20 of those points with a victory over the Badgers on Oct. 18 at home. Women’s volleyball will play at Wisconsin, while the Badgers will be at the Golden
Gophers in men’s hockey this weekend.