Pittsburgh is still No. 1 in the VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll, but Nebraska got one first-place vote.
USC is in at No. 16, while Baylor dropped out.
The top 10 is not very different, although Creighton is up to No. 5, but after the top 10 … Once again, to quote one of our pollsters, in this case Amy Pauly, “it is incredibly hard to determine who should be in what spot after that. It gets messy!”
We rank 16 teams because that’s how many get seeded in the NCAA Tournament and get to play at home the first two rounds. Voter comments follow.
1. Pittsburgh (175 points, 11 first-place votes, 1)
2. Nebraska (165, 1 first-place vote, 2)
3. Penn State (149, 3)
4. Louisville (147, 4)
5. Creighton (120, 6)
6. Stanford (118, 5)
7. Texas (110, 7)
8. Kansas (98, 8)
9. Purdue (87, 10)
10. Wisconsin (86 9)
11. Oregon (62, 11)
12-T. Kentucky (45, 13)
12-T. Arizona State (45, 14)
14-T. SMU (28, 16)
14-T. Minnesota, 28, 12)
16. USC (16, NR)
Also receiving votes: TCU, Baylor, North Carolina, Texas A&M, Auburn.
Dropped out: Baylor
Note: One of our pollsters could not make it this week, so there are only 11 first-place votes.
Lincoln Arneal (@Lincoln_VB) — Nebraska beat writer for Huskers Illustrated and co-host of the Volleyball State podcast
Abby Benton (@numberonevolleyball) — played at DII Catawba and DIII William Peace and has 54K Instagram followers and more than 116K on TikTok
Michella Chester (@michellachester) — THE volleyball voice of NCAA.com
Shelby Coppedge (@shelbycoppedge) — ESPN analyst, former Texas A&M-Corpus Christi DS
Emily Ehman @emilyehman) — Big Ten Network, ESPN, Volleyball World TV analyst; former Northwestern DS
Lee Feinswog (@VBMagazine) — editor of VolleyballMag
Daniel Gillman (@DanielGillman/@SixRotations) — host of Six Rotations for the AVCA, national play-by-play for multiple sports
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 USA Olympic coach
Amy Pauly (@acpauly10) — Head coach of the Orlando Valkyries of the Pro Volleyball Federation and the team’s vice-president of volleyball operations; former assistant coach at USC, head coach at UAB; libero at Alabama
Dennis Punzel (@DennisPunzel) — Wisconsin beat writer for the Wisconsin State Journal, author of Point! Wisconsin
Ed Strong (@VBMagazine) — VolleyballMag super Tweeter
Gillman: I’ve decided to bump Nebraska to the 1 spot, because they have looked like the best team in the nation, and SMU is holding up as a quality foe. Meanwhile Creighton keeps dominating and kudos to TCU for a pair of hard-fought wins and jumping into my rankings. Big big win by USC vs Minnesota, and keep an eye on UVA with those massive FSU/UM sweeps.
Haley: USC made some changes after barely surviving Michigan against Minnesota. It will be interesting to see if this lineup will bring about more top-16 performances.
Punzel: Not much movement this week although Pitt losing a set seems like Alabama losing to Vandy in football. Shocking. The top seven are the same and slight shuffling after that. My new teams are Texas A&M at 15 and Arizona State 16. I think Aggies are underrated.
Ehman: Not a ton of movement this week at all for me. Lots of dominant teams showing us why they’re dominant.
Pauly: Another week of teams not wanting to remain in the top 16! I believe we have the top 10 on lock and there won’t be many arguments, but it is incredibly hard to determine who should be in what spot after that. It gets messy!
Looking at teams’ point scoring and offensive numbers, Nos. 10-20 could probably beat each other on any given night and we are lucky that we’re actually getting to witness that. Last week I had Baylor, Florida State and Minnesota in my top 16 and each of them suffered a loss this weekend. Baylor is right on the cusp because they did get the win over Arizona State last week, but this weekend couldn’t hang with TCU. I rewarded SMU for their four straight conference wins on the road, and USC for their gritty victory over Michigan and stellar offensive night vs Minnesota. There were teams on my bubble going into the week that couldn’t give me a reason to rank them this weekend. I’m looking at you, Washington and Auburn. This week I’m keeping an eye on Texas A&M, Dayton and North Carolina, who haven’t suffered any bad losses as of late and are in great spots in conference standings.
Lincoln: My top eight have remained the same as they continue to take care of business early in the conference season. Where it gets interesting is the last four teams in my rankings. Kentucky got pushed by Oklahoma but remains at No. 12. The acronym part of the rankings of SMU, TCU and USC all posted solid wins. USC gets the nod over Minnesota after their impressive four-set win in Los Angeles. Virginia was the team on the rise this week as they earned a pair of quality wins. The Cavaliers topped the two Florida ACC schools but are still just on the outside looking in.
Abby: A few upsets this week made some drop the rankings replaced with a couple new additions. But my top 10 is still the same. Excited for the key Big Ten and ACC matchups that can potentially shake things up.
Feinswog: So I might be the only one, but North Carolina is in my top 16 again because the Tar Heels are 12-1, 4-0 in the ACC and have an RPI of 14. Winning is winning. Big week ahead with Pittsburgh and SMU doing a home-and-home and then SMU has Stanford. I actually will consider 14-0 South Dakota State down the line if the Jackrabbits keep it going.
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