mThe Minnesota volleyball team (24-4, 13-3) remained at No. 5 in the USA Today/CSTV Top-25 poll tabulated by the AVCA, which was released on Monday, Nov. 15. Minnesota gained 49 points in the poll to move up to 1,347.

It marked the 13th straight week Minnesota 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 12 weeks of this year's poll. Minnesota's streak in the top five dates back to last year's final No. 4 ranking.

This past week, Minnesota won at Michigan and Michigan State. The Golden Gophers rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the Wolverines in five games on Nov. 12. It marked the fourth time this season that Minnesota had rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win a five-game match. Minnesota has done that nine straight times dating back to the 2002 season.

Against Michigan State, Minnesota won the first game 32-30 and proceeded to claims the second and third games by scores of 30-20 and 30-16.

With four conference matches remaining in Big Ten play Minnesota is 13-3, and trails Penn State and Ohio State, who are tied for first place at 14-2, by one match in the standings. Penn State and Ohio State still have play each other on Nov. 17 at Columbus, Ohio.

The Golden Gophers join two other Big Ten teams in the Top-25 this week. Joining Minnesota in the top 10 is No. 4 Penn State and No. 7 Ohio State. Illinois, Purdue and Wisconsin are all receiving votes this week. The Big Ten is the only conference in the nation to have two teams in the top five.

Washington was the No. 1 team for a seventh 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.

Minnesota will host Purdue on Friday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. The Golden Gophers will also host Indiana on Nov. 20 at 7 p.m.

Rank School (First-Place Votes) Total Points 2004 Record Last Week 1 Washington (62) 1,622 22-0 1 2 Hawai'i (2) 1,530 23-0 2 3 Nebraska (1) 1,514 23-1 3 4 Penn State 1,429 23-2 4 5 Minnesota 1,347 24-4 5 6 Southern California 1,289 16-4 6 7 Ohio State 1,250 24-2 8 8 Colorado State 1,092 22-3 10 9 Stanford 1,048 19-6 11 10 Florida 1,027 23-3 7 11 Texas 955 21-3 9 12 Tennessee 893 26-2 15 13 Texas A&M 733 16-6 13 14 California 712 14-9 14 15 San Diego 639 19-4 19 16 Saint Mary's (Calif.) 629 22-3 12 17 UCLA 622 15-9 16 18 UC Santa Barbara 537 21-3 18 19 Utah 484 21-4 17 20 Kansas State 404 17-8 20 21 Louisville 281 24-2 23 22 Arizona 280 16-9 21 23 Santa Clara 210 17-6 22 24 Florida A&M 152 23-2 24 25 Missouri 141 17-6 NR Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Rice 95, Georgia Tech 88, Ohio 68, Illinois 14, Wichita State 14, Long Beach State 12, Wisconsin 10, Purdue 2.