Volleyball Today: SMU stuns Nebraska; Penn State rolls; USA advances in sitting

And that’s why we don’t do our media poll until after the end of pre-conference play.

The AVCA coaches poll is great for creating interest, but in this NCAA Division I volleyball world where all the best teams play each other right from the get-go, rankings mean little so early in the season.

To wit, on Tuesday, a day after No. 18 Minnesota knocked off No. 1 Texas:

— SMU, barely receiving votes in the poll, not only beat visiting No. 2 Nebraska, the Mustangs swept the Huskers right out of a sold-out Moody Coliseum in Dallas.

— Seventh-ranked Penn State destroyed visiting No. 4 Louisville. 

Third-ranked Pittsburgh, which might well be next week’s No. 1, swept Buffalo and No. 23 Baylor did the same to Rice.

And our long national nightmare is over: Saint Peters snapped its 38-match losing streak that started in 2022 with a season-opening, five-set victory at NJIT. 

We have a photo gallery from Zach Schuster from the Sunday-Monday State Farm Women’s Volleyball Showcase in Milwaukee that featured Texas, Stanford, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Click on any photo to view full size.

Also in this Volleyball Today, the USA women’s sitting team swept Italy to move into the Paris Paralympics semifinals.

There are 18 NCAA Division I matches Wednesday, including Stanford finally getting out of Wisconsin after a week. The Cardinal, who beat Milwaukee last Friday and then Minnesota and Wisconsin, play at No. 24 Marquette. Marquette opened with a sweep at Eastern Illinois.

Kansas, which stayed at No. 13 in the poll, plays host to Wichita State. American, one of five teams up to 4-0, plays Coppin State. Michigan is home for Eastern Michigan.

Later Wednesday, we will do our first weekly Zoom with Emily Ehman of the Big Ten Network and ESPN, who called both the tournament in Milwaukee and the SMU-Nebraska match. AVCA executive director Jaime Gordon will join us to talk about, among other things, how we can shorten college volleyball matches. 

SMU gets biggest victory ever

SMU of the ACC took it to the Huskers from the get-go and thumped visiting Nebraska of the Big Ten 25-23, 25-21, 25-18.

Naya Shime led the Mustangs with nine kills. She had six errors, 10 digs and five blocks, one solo. Maya Tabron had nine kills, added an ace, four digs and two blocks. Natalie Foster had eight kills, hit .462, and had five of her team’s seven aces and two digs. Jamison Wheeler had six kills, two assists, a block and 13 digs. Nnedi Okammor had four kills with no errors in 11 attacks and…