Washington remains #3 in coaches' poll

Not a lot of movement in the AVCA coaches poll this week, which means voters still aren’t paying a lot of attention, especially toward the top of the poll:

• #3 Washington trails #2 UCLA, even though the Huskies have a (slightly) better record and clobbered the Bruins 3-0.
• #5 USC is still behind #4 California, even though the Trojans swept the Bears (and, for that matter, swept the Huskies.) On top of that, Cal dropped a set this week—at home— to struggling Arizona State (4-11). In my book, USC is this week’s #1 team (I’d put Illinois no higher than #5 … let’s see what happens when the Illini finally meet Nebraska and Penn State.)
• #6 Nebraska slid ahead of #7 Stanford, and deservedly so.
• #15 Oregon should be frustrated about being stuck in the same spot week after week. I’d put the Ducks ahead of #10 Texas, #12 Northern Iowa, #13 Florida and #14 Minnesota. (How do the Golden Gophers—with a 7-5 record—continue to get so many votes?)

And so … how would YOU rank them?

 

Rank	School (First-Place Votes)	Total Points	2011 Record	Last Week
1	Illinois (56)	1488	15-0	1
2	UCLA (2)	1387	13-2	2
3	Washington (1)	1332	13-1	3
4	California	1280	15-2	4
5	Southern California (1)	1237	11-3	5
6	Nebraska	1192	11-1	7
7	Stanford	1173	10-3	6
8	Penn State	1059	10-4	9
9	Hawai'i	1017	14-1	11
10	Texas	928	9-4	8
11	Purdue	905	14-1	12
12	Northern Iowa	783	16-1	14
13	Florida	764	11-3	13
14	Minnesota	712	7-5	10
15	Oregon	671	12-2	15
16	Iowa State	593	12-3	16
17	San Diego	497	16-1	18
18	Michigan	473	14-2	17
19	Tennessee	361	13-2	23
20	Pepperdine	345	9-5	19
21	Miami (FL)	319	13-1	20
22	Oklahoma	248	16-3	25
23	Colorado State	234	10-3	21
24	Florida State	211	11-4	22
25	Ohio State	103	12-5	24

Pac-12 Volleyball Power Rankings for October 3, 2011

Washington won the biggest conference showdown of the week, handling Oregon at home, 3-0. The second biggest? Washington State’s 3-0 pounding of gritty Oregon State.

(last week's rankings in parentheses)

1.	USC (1)	Six 3-0 sweeps in a row; hottest team in the country right now
2.	Washington (2)	Passed Oregon test; has played just one match all season that didn’t end 3-0
3.	UCLA (3)	Clean sweep in the Rockies; should do the same in the desert
4.	Oregon (6)	Never quit against UW; now face Cal, Stanford, USC & UCLA all in a row
5.	Cal (4)	From nation’s #1 team to dropping a set at home against lowly ASU. Overrated?
6.	Stanford (5)	Forced to break a sweat against Arizona; how will they do in Eugene?
7.	WSU (9)	Big win against OSU and tough loss against UO; chance to excel against Utah & Colorado
8.	Oregon State (7)	Looked bad against WSU, better against UW. What if Kressl & Shaw were healthy?
9.	Arizona (8)	Missed chance to make a statement against Cal; must-wins against LA schools?
10.	Arizona State (10)	Stealing a set from Cal a plus; doesn’t quite balance many minuses
11.	Utah (11)	Weird thing is, there are a lot of great prep players and prep club teams in Utah
12.	Colorado (12)	Weird thing is, there are a lot of great prep players and prep club teams in Colorado

Nationally, top teams who lost include #8 Texas (to #25 Oklahoma), #10 Minnesota (to #24 Ohio State and to #9 Penn State),and  #12 Purdue (to #1 Illinois).

Starting lineup, Washington Huskies, before September 30 home match with Oregon
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

How did Washington beat Oregon State?

The Oregon State Beavers headed north with a 3-1 record in the Pac-12 and 11-3 overall. It was an impressive record, especially considering they were without one of their best players from 2010 (6-5 Mona Kressl, out for the season with a knee injury) and without their second-best hitter of 2011 (6-0 Dre Shaw, high ankle sprain since Sep. 17).

Washington's Krista Vansant (16) attacks against Oregon State's Arica Nassar (40) and Allie Rogers (20)
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

The Beavers lost Friday night in Pullman, but seemed energized in Edmunson Pavilion. They brought a vocal fan section, thanks largely to the families of two Seattle-area players, setter Megan McBride (Auburn-Mountainview HS) and outside hitter Ashley Eneliko (Kennedy HS). And though their offense was weak against the Huskies (they hit just .071), their defense was among the better Washington has faced this season.

So, how did Washington win?

How the Top 15 fared: Sunday, October 2, 2011

3 - (#2) UCLA
0 - Colorado	(25-18, 25-16, 25-20)
3 - (#5) USC
0 - Utah	(25-13, 25-14, 15-19)
1 - Arizona
3 - (#6) Stanford	(25-21, 23-25, 25-15, 25-18)
3 - (#8) Texas
2 - (#16) Iowa State	(25-16, 14-25, 25-20, 21-25, 15-8)
3 - (#13) Florida
0 - Georgia	(26-24, 25-15, 25-23)

Oregon's Katherine Fischer (12) attacks against Washington's Bianca Rowland (15) and Kylin Munoz (24)
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

How the Top 15 fared: Saturday, October 1, 2011

1 - (#12) Purdue
3 - (#1) Illinois	(26-24, 25-20, 23-25, 25-23)
- (#2) UCLA
- Colorado	[Sun., 10/2]
0 - Oregon State
3 - (#3) Washington	(25-16, 25-17, 27-25)
1 - Arizona State
3 - (#4) California	(25-19, 25-23, 18-25, 25-15)
- (#5) USC
- Utah	[Sun., 10/2]
- Arizona
- (#6) Stanford	[Sun., 10/2]
3 - (#7) Nebraska
0 - (#17) Michigan	(25-17, 26-24, 25-16)
- (#8) Texas
- (#16) Iowa State	[Sun., 10/2]
0 - (#10) Minnesota
3 - (#9) Penn State	(25-15, 26-24, 25-15)
0 - Fresno State
3 - (#11) Hawai’i	(25-14, 25-16, 25-18)
- (#13) Florida
- Georgia	[Sun., 10/2]
0 - Missouri State
3 - (#14) No. Iowa	(25-21, 25-20, 25-17)
3 - (#15) Oregon
1 - Washington State	(25-23, 22-25, 26-24, 25-22)

How did Washington beat Oregon?

Washington Coach Jim McLaughlin could barely contain a big grin. Win or lose, McLaughlin is usually understated and unemotional when he answers reporters’ post-match questions. But after his team fought off Oregon in three high-volume sets, he was close to giddy.

“That team (Oregon) is GOOD,” he said, more than once. “But we had good composure and aggressiveness, and we were good at big times when we had to be.”

Washington Huskies celebrate a point during the third set against Oregon

[Volleyblog photo by Leslie Hamann]

The Huskies won 3-0, but it could have easily been 1-2 in favor of the Ducks after the first three nailbiter sets. So what made the difference?