NCAA | How the Top 25 D1 Volleyball fared

#1 Texas, #8 Oregon, #10 Nebraska all lose

After suffering a beatdown Friday at the hands of host Hawai’i, defending national champion Texas barely eluded a second upset Saturday, squeaking past an inspired San Diego team 3-2 (19-25, 25-28, 21-25, 30-28, 15-10) in a late match in Honolulu.

 

Hawai’i head coach Dave Shoji celebrates his team’s win over #1 Texas. It’s safe to assume he’s signaling “Hang Loose” not “Hook ‘em Horns”
-photo by Hawai'i Athletics

As we reported yesterday, Oregon—last season’s national runner-up—was clobbered by unheralded Ohio 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-19) in Matt Court. “There’s one person that runs the offense,” Oregon coach Jim Moore told the Eugene Register-Guard, referring to All-American setter Lauren Plum. “We had a lot of balls that were set tight, a lot of balls that they couldn’t swing at and then the hitters start to guess. We didn’t have good rhythm offensively.”

Texas—ranked #1 in the AVCA preseason coaches’ poll—and #8 Oregon weren’t the only favorites to lose this weekend:

• #10 Nebraska lost to Auburn 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 25-23). In 2012, Auburn was 17-13 (8-12 in the SEC) and dropped its final 5 matches of the season.
• #13 BYU lost to #25 Creighton 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-15) and to Bowling Green 3-2 (20-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21, 15-12) BYU’s 6’7 First Team All American Jennifer Hamson is redshirting her senior season to concentrate on basketball, with plans to return to volleyball next fall.
• #14 Michigan State lost to Pacific 3-0 (25-21, 25-27, 25-23. Pacific held the heralded Spartans to a .102 hitting percentage, and outblocked MSU 12.5-4. Michigan State reached the NCAA Elite 8 last season, upsetting UCLA along the way.
• #16 Purdue lost to #4 USC 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-16) and to #21 Western Kentucky 3-2 (16-25, 26-24, 25-19, 19-25, 15-8). Yep, another Big Ten team goes down; the Boilermakers were steamrolled by Washington last year during preseason.
• #17 Kentucky lost to #18 Florida State 3-0 (27-25, 25-23, 25-20) and to Illinois 3-2 (20-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 15-9). AVCA voters have a way of over-rating SEC teams; here’s more proof.
• #18 Florida State lost to Illinois 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-23). Illinois—whom the Washington Huskies face in two weeks—beat both Kentucky and Florida State, but lost to Long Beach State 3-1 (16-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-17). In turn, Long Beach loses to Florida State (and plays Kentucky later tonight.)
• #19 Louisville lost to #2 Penn State 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-13). Doesn’t qualify as an upset.
• #20 Kansas lost to Central Arkansas 3-1 (25-21, 16-25, 26-24, 26-24). The Sugar Bears are a Volleyblog Seattle favorite—they lost to Washington last season in the NCAA first round. Kansas went on to defeat Arizona 3-1 (25-27, 25-15, 25-23, 25-20), while Arizona beat Central Arkansas 3-1 (25-18, 25-22, 23-25, 25-21).
• #21 Western Kentucky lost to #4 USC 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-18). Not an upset.
• #22 Dayton lost to Missouri State 3-1 (25-16, 21-25, 20-25, 16-25). The Flyers—a 2012 surprise—may be overrated.
• #24 Wichita State lost to Arizona State 3-0 (25-22, 25-9, 25-16). ASU belongs in the Top 20.

Here’s my guess for next week’s top 10:

1. Penn State
2. Stanford
3. USC
4. Texas
5. Washington
6. Hawai’i
7. Minnesota
8. Michigan
9. Florida
10. UCLA

Why isn’t Hawai’i higher? They play nearly all their preseason matches in Honolulu. That’s great—they drew nearly 10,000 for the Texas match—but combined with their weak conference, you never really know about the Wahine until Tournament time. They host UCLA next week, and Arizona in two weeks. The real test could come September 20 in a rare preseason road match at Creighton.