University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Volleyball Remains No. 1 in USA Today/CSTV Poll
9/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Minnesota becomes only the 13th team to be ranked No. 1 for multiple weeks in the top 25. Only 14 teams have been ranked No. 1 since 1982 in the USA Today/CSTV Top-25 poll. Cal Poly was only ranked No. 1 for one week. The Golden Gophers move into their second week of being the top-ranked team in the nation.
This past week, Minnesota defeated Rice in five games, and swept a pair of matches against No. 20 Loyola Marymount and host North Carolina at the North Carolina Tournament. Minnesota is 4-1 against ranked teams this year with its only loss coming to then No. 1 USC in five games at Fort Collins, Colo. in the NACWAA Classic on Aug. 28.
It is the first time since the Nov. 29, 1999 and the final poll that a Big Ten team has been ranked No. 1 in consecutive weeks. Penn State was ranked No. 1 in the final 10 weeks of the 1999 season.
Minnesota has now been ranked in the top five for five straight weeks dating back to last year's final No. 4 ranking.
This week's poll also features two Big Ten teams in the top five with Penn State at No. 4. Illinois is also No. 13 and Ohio State is No. 20. Michigan and Wisconsin are also receiving votes.
The Golden Gophers have won nine straight matches heading into the week after claiming the Wyoming Tournament (Sept. 3-4), the Diet Coke Classic (Sept. 10-11) and the North Carolina Tournament (Sept. 17-18).
The next chance to see the top-ranked Golden Gophers at home will be on Monday, Sept. 20 when they face Cincinnati at 7 p.m. in the Sports Pavilion. Minnesota will open the Big Ten season on Friday, Sept. 24 against Michigan State at 7 p.m., and will play Michigan on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m.
Rank School (First-Place Votes) Total Points 2004 Record Last Week 1 Minnesota (43) 1,590 10-1 1 2 Southern California (13) 1,539 5-1 2 3 Washington (6) 1,469 8-0 3 4 Penn State (2) 1,383 9-0 5 5 Florida 1,380 8-1 4 6 Hawai'i 1,330 8-0 7 7 Nebraska (1) 1,239 7-1 8 8 UC Santa Barbara 1,119 6-0 10 9 Colorado State 1,096 8-1 11 10 UCLA 1,074 7-2 6 11 Texas A&M 908 6-2 12 12 Stanford 877 7-2 13 13 Illinois 845 8-1 9 14 Arizona 772 8-2 15 15 Louisville 657 8-1 17 16 California 633 5-3 14 17 Santa Clara 539 7-2 19 18 Long Beach State 454 8-0 21 19 Kansas State 371 6-4 16 20 Ohio State 328 10-0 25 21 Kansas 257 9-1 24 22 Texas 235 9-0 NR 23 Utah 177 7-2 NR 24 Tennessee 121 9-1 22 25 Colorado 106 6-3 NR Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Pepperdine 100, Florida A&M 93, San Diego 78, Saint Mary's (Calif.) 70, Loyola Marymount 63, Michigan 56, Ohio 56, UC Irvine 44, Rice 19, Wisconsin 13, Georgia Tech 12, Loyola-Chicago 9, South Carolina 5, Western Kentucky 2.
