Nebraska Volleyball Gains First-Place Vote, Maintains No. 1 Ranking in AVCA Poll

The Huskers added another first-place vote back from Texas after dominating Penn State and Rutgers in a back-to-back road trip weekend.

Harper Murray (left) and Dani Busboom Kelly chat before the start of the second set. | Amarillo Mullen

Nebraska volleyball gained a stronger foothold on its No. 1 position in the AVCA rankings following a dominant weekend on the road in Big Ten Conference play.

The Huskers (14-0, 4-0 B1G) maintained their No. 1 ranking in another edition of the AVCA coaches polls released on Monday, earning 58 of the 61 possible first-place votes. Nebraska swept its East Coast road trip over the weekend, handling Penn State and Rutgers in six straight sets. The Big Red have yet to give up a set in Big Ten Conference play, and last dropped a set on Sept. 16 to Creighton.

Nebraska added a first-place vote from Texas (12-0) as the Longhorns once again sat at No. 2. Texas has remained the No. 2 ranked program since the week two edition of the AVCA polls, having begun the season at No. 5. The Longhorns earned four first-place votes in the Sept. 22 edition of the rankings, but squandered a first-place nod despite matching Nebraska's back-to-back sweep victories in its second week of conference play.

Rebekah Allick (5) reacts to a block for a point. | Amarillo Mullen

Nebraska has earned victories over three of the top six teams in the current rankings, taking down No. 4 Pittsburgh in the season opener 3-1, followed by a sweep over No. 6 Stanford. The Huskers reverse-swept No. 3 Kentucky on Aug. 31 at Bridgestone Arena and have an additional top 25 win over No. 13 Creighton. Stanford (12-3) fell two spots from No. 4 after suffering a 3-1 loss to Louisville, pushing the Cardinal to No. 5.

Nebraska and Texas remain the only unbeaten programs in the top 25. The Longhorns have also swept their opening weeks of SEC conference play, taking down Vanderbilt, Missouri, Georgia, and Mississippi State in straight sets. The Longhorns last dropped a set on Sept. 10 to No. 4 Louisville at the Shriners Children's "Showdown at the Net" in Fort Worth, Texas, at Dickies Arena.

The Big Ten Conference lost some representation at the top of the AVCA rankings with two programs in the top 10, seven teams in the top 25, and two other teams receiving votes in this week's poll. Nebraska led the conference at No. 1, followed by No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 12 Purdue, No. 14 Minnesota, No. 19 Penn State, No. 20 Indiana, and No. 22 USC. UCLA and Illinois received votes but remained outside the top 25. Indiana jumped into the top 25 this week after receiving votes in last week's rankings. UCLA fell from No. 24 to receiving votes. Minnesota fell from the top 10 to No. 14 after suffering a four-set loss at Michigan.

The Huskers celebrate a tip from Bergen Reilly. | Amarillo Mullen

The Southeastern Conference paced the Big Ten with three programs in the AVCA's top 10, while having five teams in the top 25. The SEC is led by No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Kentucky, and No. 9 Texas A&M. The SEC also includes No. 17 Tennessee and No. 25 Missouri. Florida dropped out of the top 25 after sitting at No. 23 last week. The Gators joined Auburn and Oklahoma as SEC representatives in the receiving votes category of this week's rankings.

The Atlantic Coast Conference led all conferences with six ranked teams and four in the top 10. No. 4 Pittsburgh, No. 5 Louisville, and No. 6 Stanford were the top teams from the ACC, while No. 10 SMU, No. 18 Miami (FL), and No. 23 North Carolina all landed in the top 25. Georgia Tech remained out of the top 25 but continued to receive votes.

The Big 12 Conference had one top 10 team with six teams in the top 25. No. 8 Arizona State remained in the top 10 for another week, while No. 11 TCU inched one spot higher from last week. No. 15 Kansas, No. 16 Baylor, No. 21 BYU, and No. 24 Colorado earned top 25 nods. Iowa State continued to receive top 25 votes, earning the 29th-highest vote total in this week's poll.

Creighton volleyball coach Brian Rosen | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

The Big East Conference placed only one team in the rankings with No. 13 Creighton, as the Bluejays bumped up one spot from last week's rankings. Marquette continued to receive votes despite being swept by the Bluejays on Oct. 2 in Milwaukee. The top teams in the Big East will meet again on Nov. 1 at D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha.

Other teams receiving votes in this week's poll included Florida, UCLA, Illinois, Iowa State, Georgia Tech, Marquette, Western Kentucky, Auburn, UTEP, and Oklahoma. Four teams were mentioned on only one ballot for a combined 11 points.

Nebraska volleyball has four regular-season matches remaining against ranked opponents. The Huskers are set to face No. 12 Purdue, No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 22 USC, and a rematch with the No. 19 Nittany Lions. Nebraska also has matches with receiving votes UCLA and Illinois.

Nebraska outside hitter Taylor Landfair prepares to serve the ball during the first set of the Alumni Match on Saturday. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

The Huskers continue Big Ten Conference play this week, returning to Lincoln's John Cook Arena to face Washington on Friday at 8 p.m. CDT. The Huskers then hit the road for a Sunday afternoon tilt at Purdue at 12 p.m. CDT. The Nebraska/Washington contest will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network, while the Purdue matchup will be exclusively on Big Ten+.

AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll

1. Nebraska (58)
2. Texas (3)
3. Kentucky
4. Pittsburgh
5. Louisville
6. Stanford
7. Wisconsin
8. Arizona State
9. Texas A&M
10. SMU
11. TCU
12. Purdue
13. Creighton
14. Minnesota
15. Kansas
16. Baylor
17. Tennessee
18. Miami (FL)
19. Penn State
20. Indiana
21. BYU
22. Southern California
23. North Carolina
24. Colorado
25. Missouri

---

---

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.