University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Heads to Iowa for Midweek Match
11/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Minnesota will finish up the Big Ten season at Iowa and Michigan State this week. The Golden Gophers will travel to Iowa on Wednesday, Nov. 26 at 7 p.m., and will head to Michigan State on Saturday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. to wrap up the regular-season. The Hawkeyes enter the week at 14-16 overall, and are tied for eighth in the Big Ten with Michigan State at 6-12. The Spartans have a 14-15 overall record heading into the week. Minnesota is currently ranked No. 12 in the nation,
and enters the week with a 24-6 overall record. The Golden Gophers are in sole possession of second place in the Big Ten.
Entering the final week of the conference season, Minnesota and Illinois are both in contention for second place in the Big Ten. The Golden Gophers enter the week one match ahead of the Illini at 14-4 in Big Ten play, while Illinois is 13-5. Both teams have two matches remaining this week. With one victory this week, Minnesota can clinch at least a tie for second place. The Golden Gophers have finished second place or better in the Big Ten in six of the last nine years. Minnesota finished second in 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2006, and won the Big Ten in 2002. The Golden Gophers also tied for third place in the conference in 2005 and 2007, and were sixth in 2001. Minnesota has a pair of road matchs remaining in their final week of regular-season play. The following is a look at remaining schedules for the Golden Gophers and Illinois:
ILL MINN
at Wis at Iowa
at NU at MSU
After winning a pair of matches last week against Michigan and Ohio State, Minnesota Head Coach Mike Hebert is currently sitting at 897 career wins. Hebert would become only the fourth head coach to win 900 matches at the Division I level. He would join Andy Banachowski (1,078 at UCLA), Dave Shoji (979 at Hawai’i) and Russ Rose (955 at Penn State) on that list. Hebert’s 837 wins in women’s volleyball at the Division I level put him fifth on the all-time women’s volleyball wins list,
and fourth on the active list.
Minnesota played its 13th match against ranked opposition when it defeated No 20 Michigan on Nov. 21. The Golden Gophers are currently 9-4 against ranked opposition. Minnesota has defeated No. 21 LSU, No. 4 California, No. 16 Cal Poly, No. 18 Wisconsin, Illinois twice (at No. 16 and No. 19), No. 18 Purdue twice and No. 20 Michigan. The Golden Gophers have lost to No. 11 Hawai'i, No. 1 Penn State (twice) and No. 20 Michigan. Since 2002, Minnesota is 51-36 against ranked opposition in 87 matches. The Golden Gophers are tied for first with Washington for the most matches against ranked opposition at 13. Stanford and USC are tied at third on that list with 12 matches against ranked opponents. Penn State and Stanford lead the nation in wins against ranked opposition with 10. Minnesota and Washington are tied for third in the nation with nine wins against ranked opponents.
Minnesota has defeated nine of the other 10 teams in the Big Ten this year. The only team the Golden Gophers did not beat this year was Penn State. Minnesota is the only team in the conference, other then the Nittany Lions to defeat nine of the other 10 teams in the conference. Illinois is third on the list having defeated everyone it faced this season except for Penn State and Minnesota.
