It’s the team’s highest ranking since being ranked third in the 1996 pre-season AVCA Poll. The team’s 15-game winning streak also is the longest since the 1996 season.

With the Spartans in the midst of their best season in almost two decades, Thursday’s ESPN2-televised game against No. 10 Minnesota (16-3 overall, 4-2 Big Ten) will give the nation an opportunity to watch two of the best-performing teams in the NCAA.

MSU’s Sunday match against No. 15 Wisconsin (15-3, 4-2) also is set to be televised on BTN Network, making it an exposure-heavy weekend for volleyball.

“We’re televised quite a bit,” head coach Cathy George said at her weekly press conference on Tuesday. “I think they just get back after it.”

After two straight weekends at home, the road trip will be volleyball’s first since upsetting then-No. 1 Penn State and then-No. 13 Ohio State.

George hopes for similar success this weekend as the volleyball resumes the grind of the Big Ten season.

“We might have a tough road there against Minnesota and then turn around against No. 15 Wisconsin,” George said. “So both nights, just have to get ready and again, turn around, one game after the other. (We have to) be real strong this weekend for those challenges. (We’re) looking forward to it.”

The two-day break between the Minnesota and Wisconsin games is a result of TV scheduling, but it’ll be a welcome break for the team as they’ll have time to regroup in between trips.

“It’s different, but it’s alright,” George said. “It’s just something that you deal with and you change a little bit of the way you prepare.”

At the press conference, George commended BTN Network for the number of volleyball games the network has broadcast thus far in the season. The Big Ten Conference has been historically good this season, with eight Big Ten teams currently represented in the polls and four ranked in the top 10.

“With the Big Ten Network, they’ve really been showing a lot of volleyball,” George said. “It’s been great exposure for our conference and for our players.”

With such a strong start to the season, the weekend will allow the team showcase its talent to a national audience.

MSU is excited for the challenge that lies ahead in terms of playing.

“We do have a better group, and you see the maturity at different times,” George said. We have some youth, so it’s nice to have leadership with the youth that we have and how it combines into handling everything one day at a time with the way we’re going at it.”