Volleyball On SI

AVCA Rankings: Louisville Climbs, Purdue Surges While Stanford, UNC Fall

Here’s a look at who has climbed the AVCA Rankings and who may be in need of help moving forward as of Sept. 15, 2026.

Nicole Reitz

The Cardinals rise to No. 3 in the AVCA rankings.
The Cardinals rise to No. 3 in the AVCA rankings. / Louisville Athletics

The 2026 college volleyball season has started with so much history-making action, and this week was no different. 

The Paradise Invitational in The Bahamas became the first regular-season matches held outside of the United States, with Purdue sweeping Houston and SMU, and SMU upsetting Kentucky in four sets. 

Meanwhile, Vanderbilt nabbed its first ranked win in program history when the Commodores took down North Carolina in four sets, and Penn State had the pleasure of sweeping Stanford. 

The AVCA rankings are heating up. Here’s a look at who has climbed and who might need help moving forward. 

AVCA Top 25 Rankings 

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

Receiving votes: Georgia Tech 83; UCLA 46; Tulsa 25; Ball State 24; Vanderbilt 20; Cal Poly 12; Michigan State 7

Louisville Cardinals 

The Cardinals rise in the rankings after going undefeated at the Open Rice Invitational. The team is now on an eight-match winning streak.  

Nayelis Cabello was the standout of the weekend and has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Setter of the Week. She averaged 12.08 assists and 3.58 digs per set across the matches against Creighton, Missouri, and Rice, while leading the team to a hitting percentage of .290. 

Purdue Boilermakers 

While making history in the Bahamas, Purdue was crowned the Paradise Invitational Champions after taking down SMU in straight sets. The win marked the 12th straight season the Boilermakers have taken down a top-10 opponent. 

Prior to heading to the Bahamas, Purdue got a win against IU Indy in one hour and two minutes, marking the program’s fastest win in three years. 

Dio Charles earned the program’s first weekly award of the season after being named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. She averaged 1.88 blocks per set across three matches this past week, with six blocks vs. IU Indy, four against Houston, and five against SMU. 

Stanford Cardinal

The Cardinal fell in the rankings after getting swept by Penn State. While Stanford outhit the Nittany Lions .206 to .192 and held a 6.0 to 4.5 edge in blocks, Penn State finished with 46 kills, four aces and a 56-42 advantage in digs. 

Stanford was able to bounce back against the Ohio Bobcats, posting a season-high .452 attack percentage in the sweep.

Arizona State Sun Devils 

In the home opener for the Sun Devils, they suffered an unexpected loss to UC Davis, which forced them to drop in the rankings.

ASU did manage to power back and grab wins against Oregon for its third top-25 win of the season, while freshman Grace Martin had the best match of her career thus far. She notched 12 kills on a .312 clip to reach double figures for the first time. 

North Carolina Tar Heels 

The Tar Heels are nearly out of the rankings at No. 25 after falling in four sets to Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt took set one by hitting .522 compared to UNC hitting just .042. 

A tough schedule continues for North Carolina as they face No. 1 Nebraska on Sept. 18. 

Published |Modified
Nicole Reitz
NICOLE REITZ

Nicole Reitz graduated from Indiana University Indianapolis with a degree in sports journalism in 2022 and has been writing about softball and baseball since 2018. Her work has been published in various publications like Softball On SI, Softball America, the Indianapolis Star, and SoxOn35th.

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