Washington wins twice; drops in coaches' weekly poll

Penn State snaps Purdue’s 10-match winning streak, so voters in the weekly AVCA coaches' poll jump the Nittany Lions past Washington, which won both its matches.

Texas is rewarded for beating a string of unranked teams from the Not-So-Big-Twelve; what will happen when the Longhorns meet a Pac-12 or Big-10 team that faces highly-ranked teams week after week?

Hawai’i pop quiz: How many matches have the Rainbow Wahine played since October 29? If you guessed just  TWO (home wins against Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State), then you know your D1 volleyball. Bonus points if you know that Hawai’i keeps climbing in the polls despite essentially staying on the sidelines for 3-1/2 weeks.

Oregon has been hot as a pistol, and beats both Cal and Stanford. Their reward? A baby bump to #13, and still three slots behind reeling California.

Rank	School (First-Place Votes)	Total Points	2011 Record	Last Week
1	Southern California (53)	1488	24-4	1
2	Nebraska (2)	1424	23-3	4
3	Hawai'i (5)	1289	26-1	6
4	UCLA	1229	24-5	2
5	Texas	1215	20-4	9
6	Stanford	1180	21-6	5
7	Illinois	1062	25-4	7
8	Purdue	1041	25-4	8
9	Penn State	1023	21-7	12
10	California	987	25-6	3
11	Washington	934	21-7	10
12	Northern Iowa	878	30-1	11
13	Oregon	807	20-8	15
14	Iowa State	763	22-4	13
15	Tennessee	686	26-3	14
16	Kentucky	560	26-4	16
17	Florida	541	23-5	17
18	Pepperdine	519	21-6	18
19	Minnesota	364	16-11	19
20	San Diego	328	27-4	20
21	Florida State	297	24-5	21
22	Michigan	201	19-11	23
23	Long Beach State	174	20-6	24
24	Western Kentucky	108	31-3	NR
25	Miami (FL)	75	24-4	22

Washington's Evan Sanders (10) and Gabbi Parker
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]