There is no NCAA Division I volleyball Monday.
Whew.
After four weeks of pre-conference play, with so many of those Fridays and Saturdays bursting with more than 200 matches per day, we need a break.
That gives us time to come out with the first VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll later Monday morning.
And our panel has a lot to consider.
A quick look at the top four conferences show some interesting trends.
In the ACC, just two teams went through the pre-conference unbeaten, AVCA No. 1 Pittsburgh (9-0) and unheralded Syracuse (12-0), a team that finished 2-26 in 2023, 0-18 in conference play. Only one of the 18 ACC teams — Duke at 4-7 — is below .500.
In the Big 12, which now has 15 teams, just one is unbeaten — Arizona at 11-0 — and just one is below .500 — Kansas State at 2-7.
The Big Ten has 18 teams and just one — Washington at 10-0 — is unbeaten, although Michigan, Nebraska, Penn State and Oregon have one loss each. Only Rutgers (5-6) and Northwestern (2-6) are below .500.
And in the SEC, which has 15 teams, no team came out of pre-conference unbeaten, but Auburn (10-1) and Texas A&M) have one loss each. No SEC team is below .500 overall and, surprisingly, the team with the worst winning percentage is AVCA No. 11 Kentucky at 6-5.
The Big East’s Creighton, No. 9 in the AVCA and standing 9-2 after big victories over Purdue and Kansas, will surely be in our top 16. Dayton of the Atlantic 10, won’t be, but the 10-1 Flyers are the only other team in the coaches poll not from one of the power-4 conferences.
There were seven ranked teams in action Sunday and the only one that lost was No. 4 Louisville, which was steamrolled by No. 5 Nebraska. Top-ranked Pitt, No. 3 Penn State, No. 12 Oregon, No. 16 Florida and No. 22 SMU all won.
The line of the day went to Guila Cardona of Evansville, who had 30 kills in a five-set loss to IU Indianapolis.
The recaps and top performances follow in this all-NCAA edition of Volleyball Today. We will have a separate story later Monday on the AVP League.
Sunday’s NCAA volleyball results
Top 25
Nebraska (10-1) set the tone early and went on to a 25-16, 25-17, 25-20 victory at Louisville (8-2) — the first regular-season match ever on ABC — that went surprisingly fast.
Nebraska, which beat a top-five team on the road for the first time since winning at Minnesota in February 2021, had seven blocks. Louisville had none. The Huskers hit .305…
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