My head hurts after putting together this week’s Power 10. But there are two things that i'm sure of: Nebraska and Texas are the top two teams in the nation.
1. Nebraska (Prev. 1)
The Huskers remain at No. 1 with no reason to move as they are now 8-0 on the season. They have racked five sweeps in their eight wins, just dominating teams in their paths. Nebraska is coming off wins over No.22 Utah and Grand Canyon where they relied on their depth for the three straight. This is just the third time the Huskers have started 8-0 in 13 years.
Lopes err out of bounds! Huskers WIN! 🧹
— Nebraska Volleyball (@HuskerVB)
2. Texas (Prev. 2)
Now Texas…. They are looking good. The fact that they have multiple, sometimes three freshmen on the court that are as good as they are this far into the season is scary. Cari Spears does not play like a freshman, registering a career-high 18 kills in their sweep over No.9 Arizona State. We saw Taylor Harvey look great in her first start against the Sun Devils and the back court defense is out of this world with Emma Halter. I think Texas is incredibly good.
casual career high 17 kills for Cari 🤘
— Texas Volleyball (@TexasVolleyball)
3. Louisville (Prev. 4)
Now is when things get tricky. I put Louisville at No.3 even though they still lack wins against ranked opponents. But they pushed Texas to five and were up 10-6 in the 5th set. Their blocking is really good with 14 shutdowns from Cara Cresse against the Longhorns. So far, I am super impressed by this Louisville team.
4. Pitt (Prev. 6)
Pitt moves back into the top four after a clean and impressive sweep over Kentucky. The Wildcats are a GOOD team, so that win really stood out to me. I knew this Panther team just needed more time to gel with their new setter in Brooke Mosher and they are already looking like a different group.
This sliding set from Brooke is INSANE 😱
— Pitt Volleyball (@Pitt_VB)
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5. Stanford (Prev. 7)
Stanford is in the top five for me. I could have put Kentucky here but this team ALSO pushed Texas to five. The Cardinal have a couple ranked wins and their only other loss is to Nebraska. Every time I watch them I think I am more impressed with how they battle with such a young core and how Elia Rubin leads the team.
WATCH: Michella Chester sits down with Stanford's Logan Parks
6. Kentucky (Prev. 3)
That means Kentucky is at No.6. I didn’t like pushing them this far down cause I still think this is one of the top teams in the country. I would have liked to see a little bit more of a fight against Pitt. I was surprised by that one. But I think Stanford and Kentucky are interchangeable at No.5.
7. TCU (Prev. unranked)
Welcome TCU to the Power 10! This team is upsetting programs left and right and it is time they get recognized for it. They have now beat Penn State, Texas A&M, Missouri and UCLA twice. Even after a season ending injury for Jalyn Gibson, they are STILL adding tallies to that win column. Alice Volpe has been so good in the backcourt. I am just really impressed with the Horned Frogs with their only loss coming from Pitt. Now they have a date with Texas this week...
8. Wisconsin (Prev. 9)
Wisconsin moves up one spot to secure No.8. They looked REALLY good in their sweep over a talented Georgia Tech team. The Badgers were incredibly effective, especially Mimi Colyer who didn’t register an error until the third set. They were great but still need to see more to move them up further.
Now for No.9 and No.10... You could argue probably four or five teams for these last two spots. ASU played without two of their best players vs. Texas. Purdue beat SMU. SMU beat Texas A&M but then lost to Kentucky and Purdue. Texas A&M notched its first two losses to SMU and TCU. Just a lot of ways to look at this.
9. Purdue (Prev. unranked)
What made the most sense to me was Purdue at No.9 while sitting 7-1 with wins over Tennessee, Kansas and SMU. Opposite Gracey Heaney looked electric in their win over SMU on Sunday, tallying a career-high 19 kills on a .515 clip with 12 digs. The Boilermakers are now on a five match win streak and are looking dangerous.
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10. SMU (Prev. unranked)
I have SMU at No.10 to round out the list. The Mustangs boast wins over Texas A&M and Baylor but also carry back-to-back losses from this weekend to Purdue and Kentucky, who I now have above them in the Power 10.
