Number 9 in your programs, number 1 in your hearts...Blair Brown.

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL UPDATE TIME!

Many of us watched the beat down laid on Ohio State on Wednesday, and if you watched the BTN on Sunday evening, you also saw the destruction of then-No. 7 Minnesota (which actually occurred on Friday night). Each match was straight sets and the usual suspects all had spectacular games.

Last Wednesday, Ohio State came to town 4 days before Hate Week officially started, but no one told our women's volleyball team. The team won handily in straight sets. Megan Hodge, Alisha Glass, Ari Wilson, et al had their usual dominating performances. This was another solid performance by the best team in the country. More importantly, Blair Brown has very quickly become my favorite player not named Megan Hodge, both for her solid play and extreme good looks.

On Friday, Minnesota came to town seeking some revenge on Devil's Night. Instead, the Gophers laid an egg, not scoring more than 17 points in a game. The Gophers then traveled to OSU on Saturday and got upset in Columbus. All in all, a disappointing weekend for the female Gophers. In the PSU game, again, the usual suspects were on fire. Megan Hodge hit .429, uber-freshman (and runner up in my favorite player not named Megan Hodge list) Darcy Dorton hit .636, and Alisha Glass was her marksman self. This game also marked the 88th straight victory, tying the UCLA men's basketball team in their chase for the ever-confusing-longest-streak-in-college. Common sense says the record is 92, but common sense is in the eye of the beholder.

The games aside, the two most important items of women's volleyball news happened Monday. First, Megan Hodge was named Big Ten Player of the Week for the second time this year, and Darcy Dorton was named co-Freshman of the Week (with some Illinois girl whose name I was too lazy to look up). Second, somehow Texas managed to steal MORE first place votes in the Top 25. Penn State still has a big lead, but some of the voters have switched in each of the past two polls. I guess 6 more victories in one of the toughest conferences is fodder for LOSING ground in the Top 25. However, this sport has a playoff. So there's that.

The women travel to sunny Madison on Friday and to honeymoon-worthy Iowa City on Saturday. Both games are at 7 central, 8 eastern.