Defending NCAA Champion Stanford, which is the top team in this week’s VolleyMob poll, is back atop the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll this week, after ranking second in the preseason listing. The Cardinal (3-0) moved up after sweeping Long Beach State, Iowa and Wright State in Long Beach over the weekend. The No. 1 ranking is Stanford’s 68th in program history.
Minnesota (2-0), which ranked fourth in the preseason poll, took over the No. 2 spot with wins over No. 11 North Carolina and Louisville at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in Madison, Wis.
Preseason No. 12 Florida (2-0) vaulted nine spots to No. 3 with upset wins over then No. 1 Texas and No. 5 Nebraska. The No. 3 position is the Gators’ highest since ranking second in the Sept. 7, 2015 poll.
Previously top ranked Texas (1-1) checks in at No. 4 after splitting weekend matches with then No. 12 Florida (L 3-1) and No. 18 Oregon (W 3-1) at the Vert Challenge in Gainesville, Florida.
Penn State, which was sixth in the preseason rankings, rounds out the top five. The seven-time NCAA champion Nittany Lions swept Tennessee-Martin, Delaware and West Virginia in Morganstown, West Virginia last weekend. PSU will tested in its next outing, which will see the squad face off with newly minted No. 1 Stanford in College Station, Texas, on Friday.
Other big movers in the poll were No. 8 Washington, which dropped from No. 3 after falling to then No. 9 Creighton in the finale of their own Husky Invitational on Saturday. Creighton, meanwhile, moved up to No. 7 with the victory.
Nebraska dropped by No. 5 to No. 12 after dropping both of its opening weekend matches, to No. 12 Florida and No. 18 Oregon, as starting setter Kelly Hunter was sidelined with injury.
The Ducks jumped four spots from 18 to 14. North Carolina (0-2)sunk from 11 to 16 after losses to Minnesota and then No. 7 Wisconsin.
San Diego (2-1) made a five-spot leap from 22 to 17 with sweeps of No. 20 Hawaii and Marquette and a three-set loss to then No. 13 UCLA. The Bruins moved up two spots wins over the Toreros, the Rainbow Wahine and the Golden Eagles in Honolulu.
Previously unranked USC went 3-0 against Loyola Marymount, then No. 16 Michigan and Albany to enter the poll at No. 18 from the top spot outside the Top 25. The Wolverines (2-1) dropped three spots to No. 19 after the loss to the Trojans.
Michigan State (2-1) dropped from No. 17 to No. 23 after falling to unranked Georgia Tech on Saturday.
Western Kentucky and Iowa State, both of which were in the group of others receiving votes in the preseason poll, joined the Top 25 at No. 24 and No. 25 respectively with 3-0 marks.
Three teams dropped out of the poll: No. 19 Missouri, No. 20 Hawaii and No. 24 Arizona.
The next AVCA poll will be released on Sept. 4.
AVCA Top 25 Poll (8/28/17)
| Rank | School (First-Place Votes) | Total Points Adjusted | 2017 Record | Previous Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanford (53) | 1587 | 3-0 | 2 |
| 2 | Minnesota (3) | 1461 | 2-0 | 4 |
| 3 | Florida (7) | 1447 | 2-0 | 12 |
| 4 | Texas (1) | 1332 | 1-1 | 1 |
| 5 | Penn State | 1320 | 3-0 | 6 |
| 6 | Wisconsin | 1271 | 2-0 | 7 |
| 7 | Creighton | 1250 | 3-0 | 9 |
| 8 | Washington | 1095 | 2-1 | 3 |
| 9 | Kansas | 1070 | 3-0 | 8 |
| 10 | BYU | 1054 | 3-0 | 10 |
| 11 | UCLA | 988 | 3-0 | 13 |
| 12 | Nebraska | 850 | 0-2 | 5 |
| 13 | Kentucky | 833 | 3-0 | 14 |
| 14 | Oregon | 750 | 1-1 | 18 |
| 15 | Florida State | 680 | 3-0 | 15 |
| 16 | North Carolina | 602 | 0-2 | 11 |
| 17 | San Diego | 494 | 2-1 | 22 |
| 18 | Southern California | 454 | 3-0 | NR |
| 19 | Michigan | 413 | 2-1 | 16 |
| 20 | Ohio State | 383 | 2-1 | 21 |
| 21 | Purdue | 335 | 3-0 | 25 |
| 22 | Utah | 315 | 2-1 | 23 |
| 23 | Michigan State | 207 | 2-1 | 17 |
| 24 | Western Kentucky | 137 | 3-0 | NR |
| 25 | Iowa State | 116 | 3-0 | NR |
Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Wichita State 73; Missouri 40; Washington State 31; Baylor 30; Hawai’i 30; Northern Iowa 27; Arizona 18; Cal Poly 14; Colorado State 14; Pittsburgh 12; Marquette 11; Duke 10; Lipscomb 8; Dayton 6
Eight teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of 32 combined points.
Dropped Out: Missouri 19; Hawai’i 20; Arizona 24
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