The first 10 teams in the VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll stayed the same this week.
The first movement was at No. 11, as Kansas moved up a spot. Kentucky went up two notches to No. 12, Texas stayed 13th, and Oregon dropped three places to No. 14. Dayton stayed No, 15 and Utah is in at No. 16. Minnesota and Georgia Tech, tied for 16th last week, dropped out.
Rank, Team, Points, First-Place Votes, Previous ranking
1. Pittsburgh (189 points, 9 first-place votes, 1)
2. Nebraska (183, 3 first-place votes, 2)
3. Louisville (165, 3)
4. Creighton (150, 4)
5. Penn State (142, 5)
6. Wisconsin (138, 6)
7. Stanford (116, 7)
8. Arizona State (108, 8)
9. SMU (89, 9)
10. Purdue (78, 10)
11. Kansas (67, 12)
12. Kentucky (55, 14)
13. Texas (53, 13)
14. Oregon (41, 11)
15. Dayton (29, 15)
16. Utah (9, NR)
Also receiving votes: Georgia Tech, Florida, Missouri, Minnesota, Baylor
Dropped out: Minnesota, Georgia Tech
The voters
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 and Volleyball World TV analyst, Fan Duel Reporter; 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
Voter comments
Gillman: Louisville showed me they deserve the No. 3 spot but I have Creighton as the 4, unless Wisconsin stuns Nebraska this week. I feel pretty secure with the top 14, then a toss-up between a group of 6-7. As of now I have Minnesota/Florida as the final hosts with Utah, Dayton and Georgia Tech with serious chances to jump in
Punzel: Pat week with only one of my top 16 — Oregon— losing a match. Ducks drop 2 spots to 15. Good bounce-back week for Kansas and nice win for Florida over Missouri, so Jayhawks and Gators move up a spot to 13 and 14.
Chester: Another great week! Not TOO many changes this week, but we have a HUGE week ahead of us with some incredible matchups ahead of Selection Sunday. I moved Wisconsin ahead of Stanford after another dominating week and impressive performance.
Ehman: These last two weeks are going to be the most anxiety-induced weeks for so many teams either fighting to get a top-16 seed (there are like 10 teams who have a valid claim to the last three spots) or a top-4 seed (six teams potentially in the mix? Even if Wisconsin won out, I don’t think they get in over Creighton). Kentucky and Georgia Tech finally cracked back into my top 16 because of TCU’s two-loss week (including to unranked K-State) and because I simply can’t keep a nine-loss Minnesota team in anymore. Going to be a helluva finish ….
Arneal: It was a pretty straightforward week as the teams I had in my Top 16 went a combined 30-1 last week. Oregon suffered a brutal five-set loss to USC with four late service errors. The Ducks take a slight hit but remain in the rankings. I view this week as the calm before the storm. The last two weeks shall be fun!
Strong: Has to be the most straightforward ballot I’ve had all year. Only team that lost from my ballot last week is Oregon, who drops a couple of spots from 10 to 12. Tempted to push Creighton into the top 4 for their absurd level of dominance but given the schedules, I’d need to see Louisville or Penn State drop another match. After being in a state of chaos for multiple weeks, the top of the SEC appears to have settled down into normalcy. Considered: Utah, Florida
Benton: Not much of a week this week in terms of upsets. Besides Oregon losing to USC and TCU losing to Kansas State, everything else was just typical wins and losses (which isn’t fun). Only changes I made to my list is moving Kentucky above Oregon and swapping out Baylor and putting Minnesota in their place at #16.
Feinswog: Very few changes for me. Purdue playing Penn State and Nebraska playing Wisconsin could shake things up a bit this week.
