Nebraska surges, Kansas enters women’s college volleyball Power 10 rankings

Last week was the final week of non-conference play, and we had one of the best few days in college volleyball in terms of ranked matchups. So, here are my new Power 10 rankings headed into conference play:

1. Pittsburgh (Prev. 1)

Pitt keeps the top spot in the nation, winning 27 straight sets. The Panthers swept every single opponent this season and just swept a top-3 opponent and in-state rival in Penn State. The Panthers hit .385 as a team, led by Torrey Stafford (17 kills) and Olivia Babcock. Rachel Fairbanks once again also set a beautiful game.

2. Nebraska (Prev. 5)

Nebraska is back up to No. 2 after two dominant sweeps over then-No. 2 Stanford and then-No. 4 Louisville. They were unreal offensive performances; Bergen Reilly has a fun job setting up the likes of Harper Murray, Andi Jackson Merritt Beason. The Huskers held Stanford to a season-low .100 hitting and held Louisville to a .133 clip with seven aces as well. They were dominant from the service line.

TOP-5 SWEEP: Recap how Nebraska took down Louisville on the road

3. Stanford (Prev. 2)

Stanford drops to No. 3 with its first loss of the season to Nebraska, though they followed it up with a four-set win over Kentucky as Elia Rubin posted a season-high 21 kills and Kami Miner turned in her seventh double-double of the season. 

4. Penn State (Prev. 3)

Penn State falls to No. 4 with its first loss to Pitt. PSU followed up with two clean wins and still is a balanced offense led by freshman standout Izzy Starck and Gillian Grimes anchoring the backcourt defense. 

5. Louisville (Prev. 4)

Louisville moves down one spot to No. 5 with a split week. First, the Cardinals pulled out a big win over in-state rival Kentucky where Anna DeBeer started to look like herself again; she had her best game of the season hitting .300 on the match. But then they were swept by Nebraska, where they struggled with passing and attack errors. 

6. Creighton (Prev. 7)

Creighton is up to No. 6 for me, as I am really impressed by this unit. After two five-set heartbreakers to Louisville and Nebraska last week, it finally broke through with two top-10 wins over Purdue and Kansas. You have to be able to win the big games too, and they proved that this week. Norah Sis again stood out with Kendra Wait dishing it out to all of her…