The top four teams in the VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll — Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Penn State and Louisville — stayed the same this week.
There was some minor shuffling with one newcomer, TCU, which broke through at No. 16.
Rank, Team, Points, First-Place Votes, Previous ranking
1. Pittsburgh (188 points, 8 first-place votes, 1)
2. Nebraska (184, 4 first-place votes, 2)
3. Penn State (165, 3)
4. Louisville (157, 4)
5. Creighton (140, 6)
6. Stanford (133, 5)
7. Texas (116, 7)
8. Wisconsin (97, 10)
9. Kansas (91, 8)
10. Purdue (83, 11 )
11. SMU (80, 9)
12. Oregon (64, 12)
13. Arizona State (43, 13)
14. USC (29, 15)
15. Minnesota (19, 14)
16. TCU (15, NR)
Also receiving votes: Kentucky, Dayton, Utah, BYU
Dropped out: Kentucky
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 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
Voter comments
Gillman: Pitt’s strong sweep of Stanford propelled them back to No. 1 for me, as they were dominant against a Cardinal team that just took down SMU midweek. It was a fun week with Kansas and Penn State avoiding major upsets, while Georgia Tech and Florida State avoided them with five-set winners! And the Holy War did not disappoint either with BYU entering my top 16
Haley: The race is still wide open. Pitt recently showed some cracks, and Nebraska and Louisville showed some earlier. Penn State had a pretty good scare, too. Many of the teams in the top 30 that can peak at the right time can make a deep run. There will be upsets on the way to the national championship.
Punzel: I flip-flopped again at the top, moving Pitt back to 1 and Nebraska to 2. Strictly the eye test. But I could flip-flop again next week. Mostly minor shuffling of order with Dayton and TCU moving up to the last two spots.
Arneal: Only a few tweaks this week, as most of the top teams continue to take care of business and upsets were few and far between. Creighton moved ahead of Stanford after Pitt swept the Cardinal. I kept the Panthers at No. 2 this week, but almost moved them ahead of Nebraska. Oregon also slipped a spot after losing to Wisconsin. Kentucky stays in my ratings after Utah couldn’t finish off the Holy War against BYU. Minnesota re-enters the rankings after I was too harsh on them and didn’t give the Gophers enough credit for wins over Texas and Wisconsin.
Ehman: This week was an absolute headache. Nebraska still No. 1 because more big wins. I wish I could make an argument for Creighton higher than sixth, but Stanford’s sweep of SMU shut the door on that for me. Numbers 13-16 was a coin flip between Minnesota, ASU, TCU USC and Utah. I ended up going in that order and leaving Utah out because USC’s losses were better. And eyeball test. Sorry.
Strong: I was tempted to flip Pitt back above Nebraska with their convincing sweep of Stanford, but decided to leave it as is, given the Huskers also being dominant this week. Stanford is a weird case: Last week, I had them at No. 6, but far closer to No. 5 Creighton than to Kansas/Texas. This week, I decided to keep them above Kansas/Texas, so they’re still at No. 6, but mentally, the gap is now between Creighton and Stanford. Arizona State continues to move up my ballot (and I believe the committee’s top 16 announced yesterday absolutely should have had them in). I feel fairly strongly about the top 13 in some order, but the last three felt a lot harder – I ended up going TCU-Dayton-USC, but I don’t have a strong opinion there. Considered: Minnesota, Utah, Georgia Tech, Kentucky
Benton: Despite the committee’s emphasis on strength of schedule and quality wins, I think head-to-head wins and a simple eye test should be above both. That’s why I have moved Wisconsin up after their win against Oregon and have Arizona State on my list instead of teams that they’ve easily beaten. I still have Pitt at my No. 1 after their impressive win against Stanford.
Coppedge: It’s truly amazing to see the sport of volleyball evolve year by year. The past few years, coaches harped on how they want to get opponents out of system with the first touch from the serve-and-pass game. Now, more so than ever, serving isn’t just trying to get teams out of system, it’s a whole other phase of offense. Teams are going behind the line to score via serve and are OK taking extensive errors doing so. The fact Stanford had 22 missed serves again SMU and still SWEPT the Mustangs in Dallas is jarring. Every other part of that match for the Cardinals was going right, so the aggressive errors balanced out with setter Kami Miner’s strong offense. This year I’ve heard more coaches say, “If we aren’t getting service errors, we aren’t serving hard enough.” It just goes to show, if you are going above and beyond in every other part of your coach’s game plan, you have a strong chance to win a match, even if you’re having an off night of serving. For a current college volleyball player, it’s definitely a nice world to live in!
Feinswog: OK, so I didn’t vote for South Dakota State, at 18-0 the last unbeaten. But I did have Dayton at No. 16. Go Lexie Almodovar!
