NCAA | Washington volleyball remains highly ranked in national coaches’ poll

Huskies tumble, but maintain respect in AVCA poll after a first loss of season

After a brief moment at the top of the mountain, voters in the weekly AVCA coaches’ poll sent the Washington Huskies back down to #6, matching their lowest ranking in the seven weeks of the 2013 season.

Pac-12 Offensive Player of  the Week Alexis Olgard led #1-ranked USC to wins over Stanford and Cal
-USC Athletics

USC returned to #1, though it wasn’t easy. After dismantling #8 Stanford on Friday, the Trojans barely beat Cal on Sunday. Cal couldn’t convert set point in the first set, and allowed SC to squeak by 15-13 in the fifth.

Those who look for silliness in this poll have plenty to pick on. Michigan is 1-3 in the Big Ten, including a loss Saturday to unranked Illinois, yet it remains ranked #17, ahead of #19 Wisconsin (3-1 in Big Ten play). Likewise, Purdue is 1-3 in conference, and overrated at #20.

Most ridiculous, however, is UCLA’s continued presence in the Top 25. The Bruins are 0-4 in the Pac-12, and are clearly inferior thus far to unranked Cal and unranked Colorado. Cal beat UCLA Friday and the Buffs haven beaten both UCLA and Washington (though CU also lost last week to Wyoming.)

This week’s AVCA poll:

WEEK SEVEN

AVCA Coaches		School (First Place votes)	Volleyblog Seattle
This Week	Last Week
1	2	Southern California (47)	1
2	3	Florida (6)	4
3	4	Texas (2)	7
4	5	Penn St	6
5	6	Hawai’i (4)	2
6	1	Washington	5
7	9	Michigan St	3
8	7	Stanford	10
9	10	Nebraska	8
10	11	North Carolina	11
11	8	Minnesota	9
12	13	San Diego	18
13	17	Colorado St	13
14	12	Ohio St	15
15	19	Kentucky	19
16	15	Arizona St	14
17	14	Michigan	NR
18	20	Ohio	20
19	23	Wisconsin	12
20	24	Purdue	NR
21	18	Florida St	NR
22	21	Oregon	NR
23	16	UCLA	NR
24	NR	BYU	16
25	NR	Missouri	NR
NR	NR	Miami (FL)	17

Others Receiving Votes and appearing on two or more ballots: Oklahoma 79; California 76; Duke 68; Western Kentucky 55; Colorado 53; Illinois 46; Kansas 42; Creighton 32; St. Mary's (CA) 32; Miami (FL) 26; Iowa State 16; Cal State Northridge 12; Kansas State 5; Butler 3

NOTES:

• USC swept this week’s Pac-12 Player of the Week awards, with Spokane’s Alexis Olgard earning the honors for offense, All-American libero Natalie Hagglund winning the defense award, and Ebony Nwanebu winning the freshman award for the second straight week and the third time (in six weeks) this season. With all due respect to the Trojans, there are a few players in Colorado who might be wondering what it takes to get some votes here.
• One of Volleyblog Seattle’s favorite Cinderella teams is Central Arkansas. Earlier this season, the Sugar Bears upset Kansas, and coach David McFatrich has his team 14-3 overall and 6-0 in the Southland Conference. This week, Central Arkansas swept the conference player of the week awards, and—get this—all five players atop this week’s conference hitting percentage leaderboard are Sugar Bears.