The Wisconsin Badgers just keep winning, and they’re holding on tight to the top spot in the AVCA weekly polls. Badgers volleyball continued their run this week, grabbing sweeps of Rutgers and Maryland with two tests looming this week. Along the way of this eight weeks at the top, the Wisconsin Badgers volleyball team captured a couple of individual honors as well. However, there is a threat lurking behind them that could take them down, depending on the results of this upcoming week.
All gas.
No brakes. pic.twitter.com/DYxSiFcp1B— Wisconsin Volleyball (@BadgerVB) October 16, 2023
The Top 5 Behind Badgers Volleyball
The Badgers took home 59 first place votes, one less than last week as No. 2 Nebraska gained a little ground this week. Badgers volleyball and Nebraska are the gold standard of Division I Volleyball, as they’re both 17-0 and showing no signs of slowing down. Nebraska took two matches, one from No. 13 (at the time) Penn State while the Badgers took down unranked teams.
The two titans will clash on Saturday, with their undefeated streaks likely on the line if Nebraska can take care of Northwestern and Badgers volleyball can take down Ohio State who fell out of the rankings.
Stanford and Washington State held their slots at No. 3 and 4 respectively, with Washington State gaining ground on Stanford in points awarded. Louisville jumps into the top 5 with Oregon falling to No. 8. Oregon went 1-1 this week, falling to newly minted No. 17 Arizona State. Louisville took down Virginia and Pittsburgh this week.
Other Teams in the Top 25
UCF and Kentucky made their way into the Top 25 this week, landing at No. 24 and 25 respectively. They replaced Iowa State and Minnesota in the rankings. Minnesota won both of their games this past week, while Iowa State went 1-1, losing to Kansas State. UCF is 16-2 after defeating both West Virginia and Kansas State. Western Kentucky is riding a 13 win streak, with a record of 16-2 on the season.
Florida continues to fall, moving from No. 14 to No. 17 as they dropped a match to Mississippi State. Purdue dropped from No. 15 to No. 19 after losing to Indiana this past week.
The latest AVCA/TARAFLEX Division I Women’s Volleyball Poll finds @BadgerVB and @HuskerVB holding down the two top spots as they get ready for Saturday’s showdown in Lincoln. @LouisvilleVB is back in the top 5 at No. 5.
See the full poll at https://t.co/IlOc3gkpWb.#WeAreAVCA pic.twitter.com/9bMqETkgNM— AVCA (@AVCAVolleyball) October 16, 2023