Volleyball: Men's
Men's volleyball AVCA rankings
Last week, Penn State received its first first-place vote of the season. So with sweeps over Pfeiffer and Mount Olive this past weekend, it seemed that the Nittany Lions would slide up a spot or two in AVCA rankings.
The Nittany Lions fell to No. 7.
Penn State was ranked No. 6 in the country, but several matches within the past week caused the Lions to fall a spot.
The biggest upset was Long Beach State’s 3-2 win over BYU in Utah. The 49ers were No. 7 last week. They sky-rocketed to No. 3 this week. BYU remained No. 1, but with a twist. The Cougars are tied for the spot with UC Irvine.
But the Nittany Lions did receive one first place vote this week, the only other team to do so.
Penn State is the only 8-1 team, but strength of schedule hurts the Lions. The only other team east of the Mississippi in the top 10 is No. 9 Ohio State, the Lions’ Saturday night foe. It was a one-spot jump for the Buckeyes.
Rankings (last week’s rankings)
T-1. BYU 8 first place votes (1)
T-1. UC Irvine 7 first place votes (2)
3. Long Beach State (7)
4. Stanford (3)
5. Pepperdine (4)
6. UCLA (5)
7. Penn State 1 first place vote (6)
8. USC (8)
9. Ohio State (10)
10. Cal State Northridge (9)
11. Pacific (11)
12. California Baptist (14)
13. Hawai’i (NR)
14. Lewis (15)
15. UC Santa Barbara (12)
How I would have voted the top 10
1. BYU
2. Stanford
3. UC Irvine
4. UCLA
5. Penn State
6. Long Beach State
7. Pepperdine
8. Ohio State
9. USC
10. Cal State Northridge