Badgers volleyball and Nebraska met on Saturday in what was a showdown of No. 1 and No. 2 teams with undefeated records on the line. There’s no surprise that the winner of the match was likely going to take the top slot, which is exactly what happened with Nebraska pulling out a close win over the Badgers. Unfortunately, even bringing the block party to Nebraska wasn’t quite enough to pull out a win.
What was a little surprising was the number of first-place votes that moved from Wisconsin to Nebraska, with Wisconsin only holding on to a single first-place vote.
Forward. pic.twitter.com/Zqbiv7A09j
— Wisconsin Volleyball (@BadgerVB) October 23, 2023
Movement Around Badgers Volleyball
Of course, Badgers volleyball wasn’t the only team to experience some movement within the rankings, as Nebraska took over the top slot. Stanford remained at No. 3, with Louisville moving up one spot to No. 4 and a newcomer in Texas coming in at No. 5. Washington State dropped to No. 6 from No. 5 as they went 1-1 this past week, losing to unranked USC.
No surprise, @HuskerVB is in at No. 1 in the new AVCA/TARAFLEX Division I Women’s Volleyball Poll after beating @BadgerVB 3-2 Saturday night.
See the full poll at https://t.co/IlOc3gkpWb.#WeAreAVCA pic.twitter.com/7nyR1brD5E
— AVCA (@AVCAVolleyball) October 23, 2023
UC Santa Barbara made their way into the top 25, coming in at No. 25 and knocking UCF off the rankings. They improved to 20-2 with wins over CSU Bakersfield and CSUN. They’re finally getting a bit of recognition for the work they’ve done on the court.
Purdue has enjoyed a steady climb up the rankings, this week moving up from No. 19 to No. 16. They improved to 13-6 after defeating Indiana and newly minted No. 13 in Penn State, who fell from No. 11.
Kentucky jumped up from No. 20 this week up to No. 15. They improved to 10-7 on the season with wins over Mississippi State and Arkansas, who was ranked No. 10 again this week, which caused Kentucky to jump up after an upset.
Up next for Badgers volleyball are two teams that they should take care of business against: unranked Michigan State and Minnesota.
