The Wisconsin Badgers are ranked #1 in the AVCA Women’s NCAA Division I college volleyball poll for the first time since the poll was launched in the 1982 season.
Wisconsin has come out on top in the Big Ten war of attrition after Nebraska and then Minnesota both lost last week. The Cornhuskers, formerly a unanimous number 1, moved up a spot and picked up 11 first-place votes after recovering for a 2-0 week last week.
The loss by Minnesota, dropping them to 13-2 overall, still wasn’t enough for the Texas Longhorns to break up the Big-Ten control at the top of the national rankings.
None of those top 3 teams have played each other yet this season – but a lot will be learned soon with Nebraska-Wisconsin, Minnesota-Wisconsin, and Minnesota-Nebraska games all scheduled over the next 12 days.
The biggest upward movers on the week are also both from the Big Ten. Penn State jumped from 15 to 10 after upsetting the then-#1-ranked Gophers on Wednesday, followed by a thumping of Rutgers. Michigan also jumped 5 spots after beating Maryland and then-#14 Ohio State in the past week – both games at home. Michigan State jumped a whopping 7 spots to sit at 14th in the new polls.
The Utah Utes returned to the poll, the lone new top 25 team, after wins 3-0 over Cal and 3-1 over Stanford. The Utes have been giant-killers this season, and after back-to-back losses to the SoCal teams UCLA and USC two weeks ago, they got their second top-10 win of the season on Sunday – on the road against the Cardinal.
Colorado (previously ranked #19) and USC (previously ranked #22) fell out of the top 25.
The Big Ten leads all conferences with 9 teams in the top 25.
By conference:
- Big Ten – 9
- Pac-12 – 6
- WCC – 2
- SEC – 2
- Big 12 – 2
- ACC – 2
- Big West – 1
- Conference USA – 1
| RANK | SCHOOL (FIRST-PLACE VOTES) | POINTS | RECORD | PREVIOUS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wisconsin (50) | 1584 | 14-1 | 2 | |
| 2 | Nebraska (14) | 1547 | 14-1 | 3 | |
| 3 | Minnesota | 1433 | 13-2 | 1 | |
| 4 | Texas | 1427 | 13-2 | 4 | |
| 5 | San Diego | 1337 | 15-2 | 5 | |
| 6 | Kansas | 1251 | 15-2 | 6 | |
| 7 | Washington | 1170 | 14-2 | 8 | |
| 8 | North Carolina | 1134 | 14-2 | 9 | |
| 9 | Florida | 1082 | 15-2 | 11 | |
| 10 | Penn State | 1023 | 14-3 | 15 | |
| 11 | BYU | 925 | 16-2 | 13 | |
| 12 | Stanford | 895 | 10-4 | 7 | |
| 13 | Washington State | 849 | 15-3 | 10 | |
| 14 | Michigan State | 671 | 15-3 | 21 | |
| 15 | Florida State | 661 | 12-3 | 16 | |
| 16 | Oregon | 592 | 12-3 | 20 | |
| 17 | Hawaii | 565 | 12-5 | 12 | |
| 18 | Michigan | 527 | 15-3 | 23 | |
| 19 | Ohio State | 410 | 12-6 | 14 | |
| 20 | UCLA | 378 | 12-4 | 18 | |
| 21 | Utah | 260 | 13-4 | NR | |
| 22 | Purdue | 213 | 11-6 | 17 | |
| 23 | Kentucky | 199 | 13-4 | 25t | |
| 24 | Illinois | 165 | 11-6 | 24 | |
| 25 | Western Kentucky | 120 | 17-2 | 25t |
Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Arizona 93; Colorado 92; Southern California 75; Dayton 41; Creighton 19; Kansas State 18; Texas A&M 14; Missouri 7; Baylor 5; UNLV 5.
Three teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of nine combined points.
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