We might as well use the same lead as last week:
Nebraska and Wisconsin remained 1-2. After that? Here you go:
Rank, Team, Points (Last week)
1. Nebraska, 176 (1)
2. Wisconsin, 165 (2)
3. Stanford, 150 (4)
4. Texas, 143 (5)
5. Louisville 128 (3)
6. Oregon, 121 (6)
7. Georgia Tech, 101 (11)
8. Pittsburgh, 83 (7)
9. Washington State, 75 (9)
10. Tennessee, 72 (10)
11. Kentucky, 64 (12)
12. Arkansas, 60 (8)
13. BYU, 43 (15)
14. Kansas, 28 (14)
15. Creighton, 25 (NR)
16. Arizona State, 21 (13)
First place votes: Nebraska received all 12
Also receiving votes: Dayton, Florida State, Purdue, Florida, Penn State, Western Kentucky
Dropped out: Dayton
One pollster could not participate this week.
Week 6: October 30
Week 5: October 23
Week 4: October 16
Week 3: October 9
Week 2: October 2
Week 1: September 25
Emily Ehman @emilyehman) — Big Ten Network, ESPN analyst; former Northwestern DS
Ed Strong (@VBMagazine) — VolleyballMag.com super Tweeter
Michella Chester (@michellachester) — THE volleyball voice of NCAA.com
Daniel Gillman (@DanielGillman/@SixRotations) — host of Six Rotations for the AVCA, Cal Poly play-by-play
Lincoln Arneal (@Lincoln_VB) — Nebraska beat writer for Huskers Illustrated
Sam Gore (@sambgore) — veteran broadcaster/studio host who does ESPN volleyball play-by-play, host of the Fifth Set during the NCAA Tournament
Mick Haley (@Michaelhaley6) — ESPN analyst, former national-championship coach at Texas and USC and 2000 Olympic coach
Dennis Punzel (@DennisPunzel) — Wisconsin beat writer for the Wisconsin State Journal, author of Point! Wisconsin
Abby Benton (@numberonevolleyball) — played at DII Catawba and DIII William Peace and has 48.6K Instagram followers and more than 90K on TikTok
Anne Marie Anderson (@AnneMAnderson, @annemarieandersontv) — Emmy Award winner, volleyball play-by-play veteran who works NCAA matches for the Pac-12 Network, Big Ten Network and ESPN; played at Hofstra, where she still ranks in the top 10 in blocks
Shelby Coppedge (@shelbycoppedge) — ESPN analyst, former Texas A&M-Corpus Christi DS
Lee Feinswog (@VBMagazine) — editor of VolleyballMag.com
Anderson: When we look at last 10 matches before postseason play, both Georgia Tech and Kentucky are rising at the right time. Georgia Tech’s win over Louisville got my attention and I moved them up in the poll. All of Kentucky’s losses are “good losses” and I keep inching them forward every week. First seven are fairly easy to identify while the 8 through 16 is ever constantly shifting in my votes.
Arneal: The big debate for me is who is No. 3. After Louisville slipped up against Georgia Tech, it opened the door for Texas and Stanford to move up. I like the Cardinal’s quality of wins as of late. Almost all of the Longhorns’ tough conference matches have been at home. Stanford gets the nod for now. I’m looking forward to how UT responds at Kansas State. Tennessee moves up to No. 8 after Pitt and Arkansas suffer losses to unranked teams. I debated between Arizona State and Kansas for the last spot but went with the Sun Devils despite their sweep by USC. ASU has better-quality wins and gets in over the Jayhawks.
Haley: The top five teams have shown throughout the season that they are resilient. It’s a good bet we will see three of them in the final four. As we know upsets happen. Let the fun begin.
Benton: I swear every week of NCAA volleyball is getting more and more unpredictable. I’m shooting myself in the foot for not including Penn State after that crazy match against Nebraska but I went with Florida State for that No. 16 spot after that unbelievable win against Pitt. Louisville also drops a little after losing to Georgia Tech, and I also had a tough time ranking Texas and Stanford. Stanford had an impressive win against Washington State, but I cannot get over that loss last week to Arizona State. Speaking of Arizona State, I pulled them out after their loss to USC. I could go on and on. But lastly, just IMAGINE what this ranking would look like if Penn State pulled off that win against the Huskers.
Punzel: I feel pretty strongly about my top four: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Stanford and Texas. After that it gets pretty squishy. There are teams I want to drop down but not many I want to move up in their place. Struggled to fill out the last couple spots. Added Kansas at 15 as my only first-timer.
Ehman: Georgia Tech moved up a few for me after its Louisville win. Kentucky continues to rise. Pitt and Arkansas dropped out of the top 10 for unranked losses. Purdue also climbed back to No. 16 — even with their unranked losses, I think their wins are better than any other top 16 contending team.
Gillman: Friday felt like a classic NCAA Tournament opening weekend night with all its madness! I’m a little worried about the ACC in December (Pittsburgh-Georgia Tech on Friday is huge). Meanwhile Nebraska and Purdue came up massive this past weekend as the Boilermakers worked their way back in my Top 16 behind a dominant Creighton team who smoked Marquette Sunday. I’m also very excited to lock into Oregon-Stanford on Thursday.
Feinswog: I give up. Utah State is No. 14 in the RPI. Utah State! James Madison is No. 17 and SMU is 18th. None of them are in our poll, of course, but it’s an indicator of how different this season is. The SEC doesn’t pass the eyeball test, yet it will once again get the most teams in the NCAA Tournament, likely seven. Anyway, Nebraska and Wisconsin are the obvious 1-2 and after that I had Texas, Louisville, Stanford and Oregon. Creighton is back in and I’m surprised my fellow voters didn’t give more love to Florida State. And someone has show Western Kentucky some respect, so I voted the Toppers in at No. 16. All Western Kentucky does is win and all that happens is it keeps falling in the RPI, now at No. 27 despite winning 19 in a row.
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