Pac-12 | Volleyball power rankings for week seven

Huskies complete 3-1 road trip; look to add wins at home

• next: Arizona @ #6 Washington |8PM |October 11 | Pac-12 Network

Last night in Berkeley, Colorado continued a telling trend. By dropping a 3-0 match to surging Cal, the Buffs haven’t yet lost a league contest at home, nor won a conference match on the road.

Washington's Kylin Munoz (24) and Lianna Sybeldon (10) block against Oregon
-photo by Shutter Geeks Photography

As the Pac-12 volleyball season enters its third week, 11 of the 12 teams have played at least one home match. The lone road-only team is Washington, which swept through the Palouse, Willamette Valley and Rocky Mountains with a 3-1 record.

As in most sports, Pac-12 teams want to maximize wins on the road and minimize losses at home. By those two measures, the Huskies have a slight leg up on the competition, even if it is so very early in the 2013 schedule:

	ROAD WINS			HOME LOSSES
Washington	3		Washington	0
Stanford	2		Stanford	0
Oregon	2		USC	0
USC	1		Colorado	0
California	1		Arizona	0
Washington St	1		California	1
Arizona St	0		Arizona St	1
Colorado	0		Washington St	1
Utah	0		Oregon	1
Arizona	0		Utah	2
UCLA	0		UCLA	2
Oregon St	0		Oregon St	2

Washington has slipped behind Stanford in Pac-12 hitting percentage (.309), still good for ninth in the nation. UW dropped to eighth in opponent hitting percentage (.174), and fell to fifth in blocks/set (2.69) The Huskies lead the conference in aces/set (1.98), good for #2 in the nation (behind Sacred Heart)

The most impressive team in the past seven days has been Cal, with wins against UCLA and Colorado, and a whisper-thin 5-set heartbreaker at USC. Arizona also rose from the dead with two home victories against the Ducks and Beavers, while UCLA and Oregon State are headed for a showdown to see who will be the only winless team in conference play.

WEEK SEVEN PAC-12 POWER RANKINGS …

		CONF	ALL
1	USC	4-0	14-1	Trojans barely tiptoe past Cal after sweeping Stanford. After 4 league matches, Bricio looks like toughest go-to hitter in Pac-12
2	Stanford	3-1	10-3	Cards rely heavily on their talented middles; when passing isn’t perfect, that’s a problem
3	Washington	3-1	11-1	Hard to win on the road in this league, but Huskies think they should be 4-0; UW needs all weapons against UA & ASU
4	California	3-2	10-4	Bears were one serve away from beating SC; Gehan needs more clutch hitting to complement her strong leadership
5	Colorado	3-2	11-4	Buffs will need to show they can be as passionate at sea level as they are a Mile High. Early 5-set loss at Utah could hurt later.
6	Arizona	2-2	10-3	‘Cats bounce back from week one flop with two wins against UO and OSU; will face UW’s first Pac-12 home court crowd Fri night
7	Oregon	2-2	9-5	Ducks headed nowhere until they surprised ASU; can they justify their Top 25 ranking by upsetting USC in Eugene?
8	Arizona St	2-2	13-3	On paper, Devils looked better than Ducks. Will now try to repeat last season’s upset in Seattle.
9	Utah	2-2	13-3	Utes leave cozy SLC confines for Bay Area and Willamette River; need a split each weekend to stay in the conversation
10	Washington St	1-3	14-3	Cougs learning that creampuff nonconference schedule doesn’t guarantee conference success.
11	UCLA	0-4	9-5	Bruins have talent but lack chemistry. Loss in Corvallis would be a new low but win in Eugene not out of the question.
12	Oregon St	0-4	9-6	In almost any other conference, Beavers would be competitive. This is the team UW doesn’t get to play twice.

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Photos courtesy Shutter Geeks Photography