Washington back in coaches' poll Top 10

How wide open is this year’s race for the national championship? Eight different schools appearing in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association poll received coaches’ votes for #1. Amazing.

USC finally gets an overdue nod as the top team, though the top ranking has been a bit of jinx for other #1 teams of late (the Trojans and #2 UCLA travel to #15 Oregon and Oregon State this week.)

Cal is my choice for #2 this week, as the Pac-12 once again lands four of the top five spots. Washington is back in the top ten; the voters understand that all of the Huskies’ losses—many of them close—have come to other teams in the top 15, all in the Pac-12.

Kind of crazy that Purdue is ranked below Nebraska—Purdue just swept the Cornhuskers and owns a (slightly) better overall record.

Hawai’i has an impressive record against unimpressive competition. Last season they had just one loss when they were upset by Utah State in the WAC tournament, then lost to Washington in the round of 32. You gotta admit, though: the Rainbow Wahine sure know how to celebrate Senior Night … see the photo, below …

Rank	School (First-Place Votes)	Total Points	2011 Record	Last Week
1	Southern California (41)	1452	22-4	4
2	UCLA (4)	1347	23-4	1
3	California (2)	1318	25-4	5
4	Nebraska (3)	1299	21-3	2
5	Stanford (2)	1214	20-5	3
6	Hawai'i (6)	1206	26-1	6
7	Illinois (1)	1179	24-3	7
8	Purdue (1)	1121	24-3	10
9	Texas	1063	18-4	8
10	Washington	949	19-7	11
11	Northern Iowa	884	28-1	12
12	Penn State	866	19-7	9
13	Iowa State	797	20-4	13
14	Tennessee	678	24-3	15
15	Oregon	566	18-8	20
16	Kentucky	547	24-4	18
17	Florida	517	21-5	19
18	Pepperdine	488	19-6	14
19	Minnesota	440	15-10	16
20	San Diego	387	26-3	21
21	Florida State	377	22-5	17
22	Miami (FL)	172	23-3	NR
23	Michigan	129	18-10	24
24	Long Beach State	96	19-7	NR
25	Ohio State	73	17-12	22

Senior Night, University of Hawaii