Gophers volleyball ranked No. 7 in nation in AVCA preseason poll

The Gophers volleyball team will open its season ranked No. 7 in the country after the AVCA released its preseason Top 25 poll on Tuesday. It won't take long to see if they are deserving of that spot.

After opening the season on Aug. 25 at Maturi Pavilion against unranked TCU, the Gophers will face No. 15 Baylor (Aug. 26), No. 1 Texas (Aug. 29), No. 11 Florida (Sept. 3), No. 9 Oregon (Sept. 8) and No. 3 Stanford (Sept. 9). They finish the nonconference schedule with the Diet Coke Classic at home, facing unranked High Point (Sept. 14) and No. 18 Creighton (Sept. 16).

The Big Ten placed six teams on the poll, including: No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 5 Nebraska, No. 8 Penn State, No. 14 Ohio State and No. 16 Purdue.

In conference play, the Gophers face Nebraska, Ohio State and Purdue in home-and-home series this season while traveling to Wisconsin and facing Penn State at home.

Minnesota also announced this week that their match against Florida on Sept. 3 will be broadcast on ESPNU. That means every match this season will be available to watch, either on broadcast television or streaming through the BTN+ platform.

The Gophers kickoff their first season under Keegan Cook next weekend with the Big Ten/Big 12 challenge. It opens with Wisconsin facing Baylor at the Pavilion on Friday at 4:30, the Gophers face the Horned Frogs at 7 p.m. There are currently around 500 tickets remaining for purchase.