NCAA | Top 5: Washington among elite in week 9 coaches’ poll

Washington (17-2) remains in the top five

NCAA | Top 5: Washington among elite in week 8 coaches’ poll

Washington (16-1) slides three spots after first loss of season; Pac-12 again claims 5 of top 7 spots

NCAA | How the Top 20 fared

How the Top 20 fared, September 17-23, 2012

Crazy numbers this week:

• Number two beat number one and number four beat number three.
• Number two would have become number one, except it lost to number seven.
• Numbers ten, twelve, eighteen and twenty also lost

Washington's Jenna Orladinia
-Volleyblog Seattle photo
by Leslie Hamann

And you thought YOU worked hard:

• Seattle University has played six five-set matches this season, including the last five in a row. The Redhawks are 3-3 in five-set matches in 2012.
• #17 San Diego lost a set to San Francisco 33-35. The next night they won a set against Santa Clara 32-30.
• #10 Louisville won its first two sets against Notre Dame 25-16, 25-16 … then went on to lose the fifth set 3-15. It was only Louisville’s second loss of the season.
• #8 Hawai’i played its first road matches of the season—and its first matches in the Big West Conference. The Wahine Rainbow went 3-0 this week, but were pushed to five sets by both Cal State Northridge and Cal State Fullerton.
• Five teams fell from the ranks of the unbeaten this week, including #2 USC (0-3 to #7 Oregon), #12 Kansas State (0-3 to Oklahoma), Michigan State (2-3 to #16 Purdue); South Carolina (1-3 to Auburn then 1-3 to #20 Tennessee) and Northwestern (1-3  to Wisconsin, then 1-3 to #11 Minnesota).
• Only three undefeated teams remain (of 327 Division 1 schools): #5 Washington (11-0), #7 Oregon (11-0) and #14 BYU (14-0)

#2 Nebraska loses in NCAA second round

The Nebraska Cornhuskers, seeded #2 in the 64-team NCAA tournament and playing at home, was defeated tonight by Kansas State, 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 31-29, 22-25, 15-11).

Kansas State celebrates its second round victory on Nebraska's home court

The match was as close as the scores indicate, but K-State played smarter when it counted. In the fifth set, the Cornhuskers sent several balls sailing out of bounds, while the Wildcats had tremendous success up the middle.

Nebraska has now lost two of its last three playoff matches ... beating Wichita State in the first round last night, but eliminated last year 3-1 by the Washington Huskies in Seattle, despite being heavily favored.

Washington Coach Jim McLaughlin was head coach of Kansas State in the 1990s, where he had unexpected success against the Nebraska juggernaut.

Kansas State now moves to the Sweet 16. The Wildcats head to Honolulu, where they'll face the winner of tonight's Pepperdine/North Carolina match.

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The NCAA Selection Committee--roundly criticized for it's choice and seeding of the top 16 teams--has now seen those teams go 0-3 in the second round.

Besides #2 Nebraska, #16 Texas A&M lost 0-3 tonight to Kentucky. #14 Tennessee lost 2-3 to Ohio State.

There are two other second round matches tonight: #15 Pepperdine leads North Carolina 2-0. #10 Hawaii plays Colorado State later tonight in Honolulu.

The remaining eleven second-round matches will be played tomorrow. All other seeded teams advanced past the first round so far tonight.

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The Pac-12 is 1-3 in the first round so far, with Washington the only winner (after Cal, Oregon and Arizona all lost.) USC, UCLA and Stanford are all playing tonight.

The Big Ten sent the most teams (8) to the tournament. Big Ten champion Nebraska is the only team in the conference to lose so far.

It was a tournament to forget for the Mid-American Conference (MAC.) It sent four teams, and all four lost in the first round: Western Michigan to Washington, Northern Illinois to Miami (FL), Ball State to Louisville, and Central Michigan to Illinois. Consider the controversial RPI:

14. Northern Illinois
32. Western Michigan
34. Ball State
35. Washington
74. Central Michigan