The Gophers volleyball will enter the 2016 season with its highest preseason ranking in more than a decade, landing at No. 3 in the coaches poll announced Wednesday.
Minnesota's highest preseason ranking was No. 1 in 2004 after a Final Four berth.
Fifth-year Gophers coach Hugh McCutcheon lost only one starter from a 30-5 team that won the Big Ten title and reached the program's first Final Four since 2009 last year.
The Gophers, who open this season Aug. 27 vs. San Diego in the Stanford Invite, were undefeated at home last season with a 15-0 record at the Sports Pavilion.
"The polls are the polls," McCutcheon said Wednesday. "We have no control over that. I think at the end of the day, for this group it's going to be about staying in the present and not really getting distracted about the shiny stuff outside."
