It was redemption week for the women of North Carolina and Stanford, both of whom have returned to the top 10 in the latest edition of the AVCA Coaches’ poll released on Monday.
UNC jumped 4 spots to #8 after defeating then-#10 Florida State and Miami last week. That was recovery after a week earlier where they dropped a 3-2 result to unranked Pitt for their first loss in ACC play this season.
Stanford, meanwhile, cemented a longer-term recovery after a mid-October swoon. The Cardinal won their 5th and 6th straight matches last week, including a 3-0 sweep of then-#19 Utah and formerly-ranked Colorado. The Cardinal are in the midst of a run of 8-straight games against teams who have been ranked at some point this season, and now sit 5-1 in those games. Southern California foes USC and UCLA come to town next week to test the Cardinal again.
As a new Pac-12 team entered the top 10, two fell out – Washington stumbled against Oregon last week (who suddenly looks like a serious contender at #16) and slid to 11th. UCLA also dropped from 9th to 13th.
Two new teams entered the top 25 this week. Voters are finally starting to believe in the 21-4 Tigers, who are tied with Florida for the SEC lead, after they swept then-#18 Kentucky last week.
Arizona, after another big upset win (they knocked UCLA out of the top 10) also moved into the top 25 at exactly 25th (by a sizable gap by the highest ‘receiving-votes’ team Purdue).
Ohio State, USC, and Washington State all fell out of the latest polls, though all still received votes.
Full Top 25 for November 7th, 2016
| RANK | SCHOOL (FIRST PLACE VOTES) | POINTS | RECORD | PREVIOUS WEEK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nebraska (64) | 1600 | 22-1 | 1 |
| 2 | Minnesota | 1525 | 19-4 | 2 |
| 3 | Wisconsin | 1462 | 20-3 | 3 |
| 4 | Kansas | 1403 | 22-2 | 4 |
| 5 | Texas | 1353 | 18-3 | 5 |
| 6 | Florida | 1283 | 23-2 | 6 |
| 7 | San Diego | 1204 | 21-3 | 7 |
| 8 | North Carolina | 1054 | 21-3 | 12 |
| 9 | Stanford | 1013 | 16-6 | 13 |
| 10 | Penn State | 969 | 18-7 | 11 |
| 11 | Washington | 924 | 20-4 | 8 |
| 12 | BYU | 914 | 22-3 | 14 |
| 13 | UCLA | 796 | 19-5 | 9 |
| 14 | Hawai’i | 787 | 18-5 | 15 |
| 15 | Michigan State | 748 | 21-5 | 16 |
| 16 | Oregon | 625 | 17-6 | 20 |
| 17 | Michigan | 571 | 20-6 | 17 |
| 18 | Florida State | 551 | 18-5 | 10 |
| 19 | Utah | 375 | 17-8 | 19 |
| 20 | Western Kentucky | 365 | 26-2 | 21 |
| 21 | Missouri | 283 | 21-4 | NR |
| 22 | Creighton | 233 | 20-6 | 25 |
| 23 | Dayton | 208 | 26-1 | 24 |
| 24 | Kentucky | 198 | 19-6 | 18 |
| 25 | Arizona | 179 | 16-10 | NR |
Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Purdue 38; Ohio State 32; Southern California 24; Washington State 20; Texas A&M 17; Colorado 9; Iowa 8; Missouri State 7; Pittsburgh 7; Illinois 5
Four teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of 10 combined points.
Dropped Out: Ohio State 22; Southern California 25; Washington State 23
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