Atrás
The final week of the women's volleyball regular season delivered several five-set thrillers and results that could influence NCAA Tournament seeding with Selection Sunday just weeks away.
It did not, however, bring any movement, once again, to the top of the AVCA Coaches Poll: Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Florida and SMU all held their positions at Nos. 1 through 5, respectively, for another week.
Notably, the Cornhuskers traveled to the Pacific Northwest for a pair of top-25 matchups against Oregon and Washington, returning to Lincoln with sweeps over both the Ducks and the Huskies. The Cornhuskers' 2-0 trip, which moves them to 25-0 on the season, clinched them a share of the Big Ten regular season crown.
No. 8 BYU extended its win streak to 17 straight with a top-25 win over Colorado — which saw outside hitter Claire Little Chambers finish with a .500 hitting percentage from the floor and two service aces — and a sweep of Iowa State.
Two notable five-set thrillers saw No. 21 Vanderbilt take down Torrey Stafford and No. 13 Texas, and then-No. 11 Penn State take down No. 7 Wisconsin in Madison. In the Commodores' win over the Longhorns, Maya Witherspoon finished with 17 kills and a career-high .483 hitting percentage, while Vanderbilt finished the back-and-forth, winner-take-all set with a 2-0 run.
All-American Kennedy Martin was undoubtedly a key reason behind the Nittany Lions' comeback from a 2-1 set deficit against the Badgers: She finished with a ridiculous 28 kills in the match. The 6-foot-6 senior right-side hitter has now recorded at least 20 kills in five of her last seven matches.
With that, here's a look at the updated AVCA poll:
First place votes in parentheses
Nebraska (63)
Pitt
Louisville
Florida
SMU
Kentucky
BYU
Arizona State
Wisconsin
Penn State
Tennessee
Oregon
Purdue
Kansas
Vanderbilt
Texas
TCU
Washington
Minnesota
North Carolina
Texas A&M
Indiana
Baylor
Stanford
Illinois