• You do not need to register if you are not going to pay the yearly fee to post. If you register please click here or log in go to "settings" then "my account" then "User Upgrades" and you can renew.

HuskerMax readers can save 50% on  Omaha Steaks .

AVCA Rankings--September 24, 2018

carrolltonsker

Husker Immortal
15 Year Member
As expected, the top 3 teams stayed the same from last week. Texas moved up to #4, and Penn St. dropped to #9 after losing two games last weekend.

AVCA COACHES
Through Games SEP. 24, 2018
RANK SCHOOL POINTS RECORD PREVIOUS RANK
RANK
SCHOOL POINTS RECORD PREVIOUS RANK
1 BYU (59) 1595 12-0 1
2 Stanford (5) 1541 10-1 2
3 Nebraska 1452 11-1 3
4 Texas 1356 6-3 5
5 Wisconsin 1325 9-1 6
6 Minnesota 1302 8-2 7
7 Illinois 1242 13-0 8
8 Pittsburgh 1125 13-0 9
9 Penn State 1045 9-3 4
10 Creighton 954 10-4 10
11 Florida 909 11-3 11
12 Oregon 860 9-3 12
T-13 Southern California 820 10-3 14
T-13 Washington 820 10-2 13
15 Cal Poly 746 13-1 15
16 Purdue 646 12-1 16
17 Michigan 572 12-1 18
18 UCLA 565 6-3 17
19 Kentucky 487 7-4 20
20 Marquette 365 10-4 21
21 Baylor 302 9-4 19
22 Washington State 234 9-3 22
23 Colorado 163 9-4 NR
24 Arizona 76 12-2 NR
25 Utah 60 8-5 23

Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Louisville 52; Missouri 27; Oregon State 26; Colorado State 23; Ohio State 23; Alabama 16; San Diego 14; East Tennessee State 10; Loyola Marymount 8; Texas Tech 7; Northern Iowa 6; Kansas State 5; Michigan State 4; St. Mary's (Ca.) 4

Seven teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of 18 combined points.

Dropped Out: Alabama 25; San Diego 24

Next Poll: October 1


https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/volleyball-women/d1/avca-coaches
 
Last edited:



Not really. Penn St. was #4 last week, and they lost two games and dropped to #9. Texas was #5 last week and moved up to #4 this week.
I think the point is they should not have been #5 the week before with three losses. And two of their wins were by a 3-2 margin, including 19-17 in the fifth to unranked KSU this past week. A one-loss Wisconsin beat them handily but is ranked lower.
 
I think the point is they should not have been #5 the week before with three losses. And two of their wins were by a 3-2 margin, including 19-17 in the fifth to unranked KSU this past week. A one-loss Wisconsin beat them handily but is ranked lower.
Bingo. I get Stanford is #2, but you only catch one game in two matches... then beat the one team you play last week 3-2? I can’t see how you move up.
 
A couple of posters (@weaver75 and @Busker ) have already hammered on what my initial talking point was going to be. The Shorthorns are ranked too high. Last week I thought they would drop below Wisconsin. When that didn’t happen, I thought that since Penn State lost twice, the coaches would have to reexamine their ballots and surely they would put a 3 loss UT@SUCKS team below a one loss Whiskey team that beat them head to head. And since, as was pointed out above, Burnt Orange had one match this week, and struggled to put away an unranked Powercat team at the Little Apple (who then lost to an unranked OU squad in straight sets), I thought maybe they would also drop below Minnesota AND/OR Illinois. But NOOOOOOOOOOO………..instead they move up one.

In the long run, it probably doesn’t matter much. The Big 12 is really down this year. Baylor has a couple of good outside hitters, but they wet the bed AGAIN by losing to Texas Tech in 4. Texas and Baylor play this Wednesday in Austin. Despite the Wildcats taking the Horns to the limit plus some, I don’t see Texas losing a conference match. And like BYU and Pittsburgh, as long as they keep winning, and teams in more competitive conferences beat each other up, the Shorthorns would have ended up in the 3 or 4 spot in the rankings regardless if they started 8th or 5th.

I still think Texas will pay a price for playing in a weak conference and having 3 losses already. Even if they are ranked 3 or 4 in the poll, I don’t think they get a top 4 seed in the Tournament.

The Cult that is Penn State dropping to 9th is about right. While losing to Ohio State is an upset, the Buckeyes have also been a thorn in the side of the Huskers in recent years. In 2015 (National Champ year), Nebraska lost to Ohio State in Columbus. The next year (Final Four year), Nebraska lost to the Buckeyes in Lincoln. And of course this year, the OSU vs. Big Red match is in the middle of a grueling run:

Oct 13th @The Cult that IS Penn State
Oct 19th @ Wisconsin
Oct 20th @ Minnesota
Oct 24th @ Ohio State
Oct 27th vs Illinois
Nov 2nd vs The Cultist again, this time in Lincoln

The Nittany Lions travel to the Michigan Schools this weekend. If they split in Michigan, I may have to adjust my prediction of 5 to 6 conference losses upwards for the Blue and White.

At no. 10, Creighton got a big win against Marquette in straight sets at home in what is their main competition (as in only competition) in the Big East. They still have to go to Milwaukee in a return match at the end of October. Creighton is looking good AGAIN to get a top 16 seed, and homecourt that first weekend in the Tourney.

There was a gaggle of PAC-12 schools last week in the rankings from 11 to 25, so this week a few more geese were added. Eight PAC-12 schools are in the 11-25 slots putting them at 9 total in the top 25. Plus Oregon State is receiving votes. While Stanford has separated themselves from the gaggle, it is still an ultra-competitive league. On Sunday, 5 matches were played. And aside from Stanford vs. Arizona which the Color Cardinal won in 4, the remaining matches all went to 5 sets. Another example is Washington, which is probably the 3rd best team in the conference, beat Oregon State, which is probably the 10th best team in the conference, in 5 sets. Not a lot of daylight between 2 thru 10 in the PAC-12.

The Toreros are DEAD……LONG LIVE the Toreros……
Yes, finally the 4-7 San Diego squad is no longer in the top 25, even though they are receiving a few votes (those coaches need to be booted from the poll). It wasn’t enough to lose to an unranked Oregon State squad, but finally, losing to an unranked St. Mary’s squad did the trick.

The Big Ten again has 7 ranked in the poll and have 5 of the top 10 spots. MSU and tOSU are also receiving votes. I indicated in another post that there was a drop off after Sparty and the Buckeyes, but Indiana and Iowa may be better than I thought. Of course the Hawkeyes beat Sparty in straight sets in Iowa City. But Indiana played Illinois to a 5 setter (the Illini came back from an 0-2 set deficit) in Bloomington.

As noted in a post above, congratulations to Foecke and Hames for their Big Ten weekly awards. Foecke was outstanding Co-Player, and while Hames was NOT setter of the week, she WAS Co-Freshman of the week. What I want to know is what does it take for Kenzie Maloney to get Defensive Player of the week. She was a FREAK out there against Blue and Sparty. I don’t see how she could play much better.

And finally, congratulations to Jordan Larson and Kelsey Robinson for making the Team USA Roster for the World Championships. Justine Wong-Orantes did not make the team as Coach Karch Kiraly decided to go with multi-skilled outside hitters (Robinson is one of them) as the teams liberos instead of just a pure libero. The World Championships start September 29th, last until October 20th, and are in Japan this year. Note that 8 of the 14 players are from B1G schools.

https://volleymob.com/usa-volleyball-names-2018-womens-world-championship-team/
 



We’ve already beaten Texas where it matters this year:

AF9I4754_DxO.jpg
 
Last edited:

GET TICKETS


Get 50% off on Omaha Steaks

Back
Top