Week #3 D1 Media Poll

The weekly media poll (sponsored by Volleyball Magazine and ASICS) looks much like the AVCA coaches' poll, with one exception: Pac-12 schools hold 4 of the top 5 spots. (The poll was conducted before Cal's 3-1 victory over Stanford last night.)

Illinois' high ranking remains a mystery: the Illini are undefeated, but have dropped several sets to much lesser teams, including narrow five-set wins at home against Dayton and Tulsa.

The team not getting a lot of respect--in either poll--is once-beaten Nebraska. The Cornhuskers' single loss was a five-set match against #19 Colorado State.

The September 13, 2011 VBM/Asics Poll:

Rank	Team	Points	Last Week
1	California	199	1
2	Stanford	186	4
3	Illinois	181	3
4	Washington	157	5
5	UCLA	144	8
6	Penn State	136	2
7	Florida	127	6
8	Nebraska	126	9
9	Minnesota	117	7
10	Hawaii	113	12
11	Texas	104	11
12	Iowa State	94	17
13	Purdue	78	13
14	Southern California	75	10
15	Oregon	60	15
16	Northern Iowa	55	14
17	San Diego	43	19
18	Michigan	42	RV
19	Colorado State	29	16
20	Miami (FL)	20	NR

Summer Ross on wearing #99

Summer Ross
(Jim Bates/Seattle Times)

Most college volleyball players wear uniforms with numbers in the low digits.

Not Summer Ross.

The University of Washington freshman outside hitter wears the highest digits allowable: 99.

“A big number for a big hitter,” Ross told me. And if the quote sounds, well, immodest, I’ll report that she said it sheepishly, almost blushing.

The big digits drew unexpected attention during her very first college road trip. On August 27, fans at volleyball-mad Pyramid Arena in Long Beach targeted Ross during warm-ups. They teased her about her nontraditional number, which devolved into a few vulgar chants. It got so belligerent that one spectator was escorted out of the building by security.

Ross’s reaction? “I like it,” she told me, “when fans get passionate about volleyball.”

And she said it with a smile.

Summer Ross & Krista Vansant/Steve Kelley column

Today’s Seattle Times sports page (print edition) is dominated by a Ken Lambert portrait of University of Washington freshmen Summer Ross and Krista Vansant.

Summer Ross and Krista Vansant
(Ken Lambert/Seattle Times)

The photo accompanies a Steve Kelley column, "Not Afraid to Be Great," focusing largely on coach Jim McLaughlin’s early impressions of his two young outside hitters.

My favorite line from Kelley’s column:

“A lot of people, when it gets hard, they give in. Most people are that way. They want an easier road,” McLaughlin said. “Well, there's nothing easy about becoming great. It's terribly difficult, but these two kids are in this process and they're staying on track and they're not falling into those traps that can get people.”

#1 Cal tops #2 Stanford; Utah wins

The Cal Bears, playing at home, won the final three sets to defeat Stanford 3-1. Cal's big hitter, Tarah Murrey, had 18 kills but hit just .157; the Bears hit just .264 for the match.

Stanford committed an astonishing 31 hitting errors to hit just .103 over four sets; Rachel Williams had 12 of those errors to go with her team-leading 15 kills. Undefeated Cal has now won 5 of its previous 7 matches against Stanford. It was Stanford's first loss of the season.

In Boulder, Utah swept Colorado in three sets. The Utes hit .275 to the Buffs' .161.

And in Eugene, the Ducks beat Cal Poly 3-0, in the league's final nonconference match of the preseason. The Pac-12 went 80-20 against nonleague competition.

Pac-12 staggered start

#1 faces #2 tonight in Berkeley, as top-ranked Cal hosts rival Stanford.

For some in Pac-12, rivalry week comes early. For others, including Washington, it comes very late. What’s going on?

When the first-ever Pac-12 schedule was released in spring, every team was to face its rival first and last in conference play. But several schools objected, since it meant playing three Pac-12 matches in just five days, with half the teams facing travel during that span.

The league agreed to let Washington and WSU move their series to the end of the season, meeting in Seattle the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and in Pullman three days later. The Oregon and Arizona schools followed suit.

USC's Galen Center

UCLA and USC played the first-ever Pac-12 match last Friday; UCLA steamrolled to a 3-0 win. One bright note in an otherwise troubled USC early season: 5,385 fans filled Galen Center, a USC home record.

Cal is hoping for similar support when it hosts what is known as the “Big Spike” series. For most of the past decade, Cal/Stanford has taken a back seat to the UW/Stanford series, as that duo finished in the top two every season between 2004-09. Stanford leads the Cal series 62-10, including a winning streak that spanned twenty seasons. Since breaking that streak, however, the Bears have won 4 of the past six matches, including a season sweep last season. Cal graduated national Player of the Year setter Carli Lloyd, but returns powerful outside hitter Tarah Murrey. Stanford graduated All-American Alix Klineman, but junior Karissa Cook is a big-time setter.

And in Boulder, Colorado and Utah go at it in their first-ever Pac-12 “rivalry” contest.

Pac-12 Preview

Every preseason, Pac-12 volleyball coaches belly up to a buffet of potential nonconference opponents. The available competition ranges from pitiful to powerful, and each coach faces a choice: Pad your record and build confidence? Or toss the team in the fire to harden it for grueling conference play?

Cupcakes or cuisine?

Most seasons, including this one, Washington coach Jim McLaughlin turns down invitations to compete early on against national powers. Figuring his players will get plenty of tough competition from the likes of Stanford, Cal, UCLA and USC, he tends to treat the preseason as a time for teaching and tinkering. UW’s eight nonconference matches featured just one ranked opponent, #22 Long Beach State (a 3-1 UW victory in the 49ers’ gym.)

Other Pac-12 teams took a similar path, including Cal, Utah, Colorado, WSU, Oregon State and Arizona State. Arizona’s only loss was against its only top opponent (swept by Hawai’i in Honolulu.)

Three conference teams took on at least two national powers:

·         USC—ranked #2 in the initial national poll—started by barely beating current #9 Minnesota. The Trojans then dropped a squeaker to previously top-ranked Penn State before being whipped 3-0 by UCF (Central Florida.)

·         Oregon shocked the volleyball world by demolishing four-time defending national champion Penn State, snapping the Nittany Lions’ monumental home court win streak at 94. The next night, the Ducks lost to Minnesota in five sets.

·         Undefeated Stanford dropped several sets, but secured home victories over both Penn State and #7 Florida.

Overall, the Pac-12 won 80 percent of its nonconference matches (79-20, with one left to be played, Cal Poly @ Oregon tonight) and 70 percent of its sets (252-104). Four of this week’s top six teams in the AVCA national poll—#1 Cal, #2 Stanford, #4 Washington, #6 Stanford—are from the Pac-12, and there is a good argument that #3 Illinois and #5 Penn State are both ranked too high.

So what have we learned?

The conference championship is up for grabs, perhaps as never before, and as many as 7 or 8 teams might have a reasonable shot at a tournament bid.

TITLE CONTENDERS: CALIFORNIA, STANFORD, WASHINGTON, UCLA

In head-to-head meetings among these four, the home team should be a slight favorite. The team that wins the most road matches against the other three may win the conference.

POSTSEASON PROBABLES: OREGON, USC, ARIZONA

The Ducks have an outside chance to compete for the league title, but need to shake a history of near-misses. USC has stumbled early, losing at home to UCLA last Friday, and playing the season without academically ineligible Falyn Fonoimoana, the 2010 Freshman of the Year. Arizona should get an upset or two plus enough wins from the also-rans to slip into the NCAA tournament.

WORKING TO REMAIN RELEVANT: WSU, OREGON STATE, ARIZONA STATE, UTAH, COLORADO

WSU and Oregon State each had good preseasons against fair competition (OSU beat Long Beach State in Long Beach.) ASU will struggle, as will the two newest entries in the league, Utah and Colorado.

Vansant streak ends

Krista Vansant

For the first time in 2011, Krista Vansant is not the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week.

The University of Washington outside hitter won the honor the first two weeks of the season. The season’s third freshman honoree is Oregon State middle blocker Arica Nassar.

Nassar had a monster week, leading the Beavers to wins against Seattle U, SMU, Utah State and Long Beach State. Two of the victories—SMU and Long Beach State—were five-set barnburners, giving Nassar plenty of chances to display her hitting and blocking talents.

For the week, Nassar hit .402, with a .356 kills per set average.

Vansant didn’t have a bad week herself. In sweeps of Seattle U and Fresno State, she hit .409 and had a 3.66 kps average.

Yes, Vansant’s numbers are slightly better than Nassar’s. But no, Vansant can’t get the award every week. And yes, Nassar deserves it.

The Pac-12 press release.

2011 Pac-12 Women's Volleyball Player of the Week
Date	Offensive	Defensive	Freshman
Aug. 29	Alaina Bergsma, ORE	Bianca Rowland, WASH	Krista Vansant, WASH
Sept. 5	Rachael Kidder, UCLA	Karissa Cook, STAN	Krista Vansant, WASH
Sept. 12	Rachel Williams, STAN	Carly Wopat, STAN	Arica Nassar, OSU

Washington climbs to #4 in AVCA Poll

The weekly American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division 1 Poll has just been released, and the Pac-12 still dominates.


Six Pac-12 schools made the top sixteen, including Cal (1), Stanford (2), Washington (3), UCLA (6), USC (13) and Oregon (16). We’ll check around, but we don’t recall another instance when four of the top six were from a single conference.


Illinois and Penn State break up the Pac-12 monopoly at the top. Illinois is undefeated, but two of those wins were five-set squeakers, both at home, to unranked Dayton (4-5) and Tulsa (6-4). Penn State has now lost three times, including at home to #16 Oregon, and to #2 Stanford and #8 Texas, both in Palo Alto.


Polls are often wacky … Minnesota has twice defeated Texas this season, yet the Longhorns get a higher ranking (8 vs. 9).


The full poll is here. The top ten:

Rank	School (First-Place Votes)	Total Points	2011 Record	Last Week
1	California (51)	1487	10-0	1
2	Stanford (8)	1438	6-0	3
3	Illinois	1354	9-0	4
4	Washington (1)	1296	7-0	5
5	Penn State	1151	4-3	2
6	UCLA	1116	7-1	8
7	Florida	1060	7-2	7
8	Texas	1030	3-3	10
9	Minnesota	1000	4-2	6
10	Nebraska	971	6-1	11

Pac-12 Volleyball Power Rankings for September 12, 2011

1.	Stanford	Home wins against Penn St. and Florida re-establish early Final 4 credibility
2.	Washington	Preseason schedule almost as easy as Cal’s; win @ #22 Long Beach St. only real test
3.	UCLA	Big victory at USC after shocking loss at Pepperdine; beat Hawai’i & Ohio St. in Honolulu
4.	Cal	Cupcake preseason schedule ends when Pac-12 play begins
5.	Oregon	Penn State shocker followed by close loss to Minnesota
6.	USC	Nation’s preseason #2 clobbered by unranked UCF; swept by Bruins despite record Galen Center crowd
7.	Arizona	Dispatched early lightweights, but lost to Hawaii
8.	WSU	Surprise team of preseason benefits from low expectations
9.	OSU	Victory over Long Beach St. nothing to sneeze at, embarrassing  loss to S. Dakota
10.	Utah	Home losses to E. Mich. and BYU not pretty; Pac-12 will be worse
11.	ASU	Attempted tougher-than-many preseason schedule; still no quality wins
12.	Colorado	Buffs lost to UC Davis, Sienna and Albany; played in a NYC tourney on 9/11