Minnesota vs. Wisconsin volleyball: Preview, history, how to watch

No. 6 Minnesota volleyball is back on the road for its second top 25 match of the week, this time at No. 7 Wisconsin. Both teams come into the matchup 5-0 in the tough Big Ten. 

TOP 25: Latest AVCA coaches poll rankings

Wisconsin was on the road Wednesday night when it defeated Northwestern, 3-0. But more importantly, the Badgers had two big upset wins over Penn State and Nebraska last week. The Gophers defeated No. 17 Illinois 3-1 this Wednesday on the road. 

In the Gophers' win over Illinois, Alexis Hart had 14 kills, Adanna Rollins had 12 and Stephanie Samedy hammered in 10 kills. Samedy just recently reached 1,000 career kills last Saturday; Hart was the last person to do that, in 2018. 

WATCH: Stephanie Samedy discusses matchup against Wisconsin

The Badgers have won five straight matches, their longest winning streak of the season. Dana Rettke also accomplished the same feat as Samedy this past week, reaching 1,000 kills with her ninth kill in the win over Northwestern on Wednesday. Last week marked the first time in program history that the Badgers took down two top-five teams back-to-back, and over its last three matches, Wisconsin is hitting .356. 

Molly Haggerty and Grace Loberg follow Rettke in kills with 151 and 147, respectively. Sydney Hilley has 526 assists on the season — and earned AVCA player of the week last week. 

The Gophers, on the other hand, are on a 10-match winning streak. They have suffered some injuries though, losing setter Kyle Miller to injury for most of the Big Ten season, who averaged 11.93 assists per set. Sophomore Bayley McMenimen took over, and is averaging 7.44 assists per set. 

History

This history dates back to 1975. Minnesota is 52-30 all-time against the Badgers. Last season, Minnesota won both of their matches against the Badgers, 3-0 and 3-1. 

Last season, Rettke put up a career high of 30 kills, but the Gophers still outlasted the Badgers 3-1. 

How Minnesota and Wisconsin matchup statistically

	Tale of the table
	ATTACK
651	Kills	651
199	Attack Errors	207
1687	Attempts	1548
0.268	Percentage	0.287
15.1	Kills/Set	14.5
	SET
608	Assists	616
14.1	Assists/Set	13.7
	SERVE
45	Aces	74
65	Errors	91
1	Aces/Set	1.6
	RECEPTIONS
48	Errors	46
1.1	Errors/Set	1
	DEFENSE
771	Digs	626
17.9	Digs/Set	13.9
	BLOCKING
16	Block Solo	8
200	Block Assist	184
116	Total Blocks	100
2.7	Blocks/Set	2.2
23	Block Errors	9

As a team, Minnesota leads the nation in kills per set at 15.14 and is second in assists per set at 14.12. Minnesota also has a significant more amount of digs per set than Wisconsin. 

How to watch

First serve will take place at 4 p.m. ET. The match will be televised on Big Ten Network as well as through the FOX Sports App on mobile or tablet. You can also listen to the match here.