After a busy few days that wrapped up the third weekend of conference play, this seems the right time to break down what’s happening around the country in NCAA Division I volleyball.
We’ll start with the Power 5 conferences — ACC , Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC — and cover all the rest Wednesday.
It would be an understatement to say that the first two parts of the season — pre-conference and then the start of conference — have been unpredictable, minus Texas, Louisville and Nebraska. After that, everyone seems to be open for business and truly, cliche or not, anything can happen on any day.
Welcome to the continuing college volleyball world of experienced fifth- and sixth-year standouts, transfers galore, and freshmen who come in ready to take over.
AVCA POLL: Texas, Louisville, Nebraska and San Diego stayed 1-2-3-4, but Wisconsin is up two spots to No. 5.
Ohio State stayed at No. 6, Stanford is up a spot to No. 7, Pittsburgh is up a notch to No. 8, and Purdue fell four spots to No. 9. Minnesota is up a spot to No. 10, trading places with Georgia Tech.
The biggest drop was by Oregon, which went from No. 12 to 18th, after losing two five-set matches on the road.
Click here for the complete AVCA Division I Coaches Poll.
AVCA POW: Skylar Fields of USC is having a tremendous season and last week was magnificent. The transfer from Texas hit on all cylinders in USC’s two-victory trip to Arizona. Against Arizona,the 6-foot-2 product of Missouri City, Texas, had 22 kills, hit .333 an had 13 digs and two blocks, one solo. Two days later at Arizona State Fields had 27 more kills, hit .429, and had an ace, a solo block and 12 digs.
Fields overwhelmingly leads the Pac-12 in kills (308) and kills per set (4.89).
For Fields’ sake, hopefully she’ll fare better than last week’s honoree, Delaware’s Lani Mason. Mason ran into the buzzsaw that is unbeaten Towson, which swept the Blue Hens in back-to-back matches last weekend. In the first match, Mason had 10 kills and 12 errors in 38 attacks and hit minus .053, and then in the second match had 13 kills and hit .235. For the season, Mason is averaging 5.47 kills/set and hitting .262 and is sixth in the NCAA with 316 kills.
ACC
Louisville may have lost middle Anna Stevenson, who’s with the USA national team in the FIVB World Championships, but the second-ranked Cardinals haven’t lost a beat after advancing to last year’s national semifinals. They’re tied with…
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