VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll: Arizona State rises, Texas tumbles

Pittsburgh held onto its No. 1 spot in the VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll as our top five places stayed the same.  Nebraska remained No. 2, but the gap narrowed. Pitt got eight of the 12 of the first-place votes. Nebraska, which had one the week before, got the other eight.

Kansas moved up two spots to No. 6, Arizona State made the biggest jump, four notches to No. 9, while Texas took the biggest tumble, four spots to a tie for 13th.

The poll and voter comments follow.

Rank, Team, Points, First-Place Votes, Previous ranking

1. Pittsburgh (188 points, 8 first-place votes, 1)
2. Nebraska (184, 4 first-place votes, 2)
3. Penn State (164, 3)
4. Louisville (156, 4)
5. Creighton (148, 5)
6. Kansas (120, 8)
7. Wisconsin (115, 7)
8. Stanford (112, 6)
9. Arizona State (88, 13)
10. SMU (84, 11 )
11. Purdue (80, 10)
12. Oregon (46, 12)
T-13. Texas (42, 9)
T-13. Minnesota (42, 14)
T-15. Dayton (22, 15)
T-16. Kentucky (22, 16)
Also receiving votes: Georgia Tech, TCU, BYU, Florida
Dropped out: None

The voters

Lincoln Arneal (@Lincoln_VB) — Nebraska beat writer for Huskers Illustrated and co-host of the Volleyball State podcast
Abby Benton (@numberonevolleyball) — played at DII Catawba and DIII William Peace and has 54K Instagram followers and more than 116K on TikTok
Michella Chester (@michellachester) — THE volleyball voice of NCAA.com
Shelby Coppedge (@shelbycoppedge) — ESPN and Volleyball World TV analyst, Fan Duel Reporter; former Texas A&M-Corpus Christi DS
Emily Ehman @emilyehman) — Big Ten Network, ESPN, Volleyball World TV analyst; former Northwestern DS
Lee Feinswog (@VBMagazine) — editor of VolleyballMag
Daniel Gillman (@DanielGillman/@SixRotations) — host of Six Rotations for the AVCA, national play-by-play for multiple sports
Sam Gore (@sambgore) — veteran broadcaster/studio host who does ESPN volleyball play-by-play, host of the Fifth Set during the NCAA Tournament
Mick Haley (@Michaelhaley6) — ESPN analyst, former national-championship coach at Texas and USC and 2000 USA Olympic coach
Amy Pauly (@acpauly10) — Head coach of the Orlando Valkyries of the Pro Volleyball Federation and the team’s vice-president of volleyball operations; former assistant coach at USC, head coach at UAB; libero at Alabama
Dennis Punzel (@DennisPunzel) — Wisconsin beat writer for the Wisconsin State Journal, author of Point! Wisconsin
Ed Strong (@VBMagazine) — VolleyballMag super Tweeter

Voter comments

Gillman: Love chaos weeks like this one! Arizona State with an impressive stretch in Utah, and we will finally get the Kansas-ASU showdown on Wednesday! Fringe teams like Miami, Washington and Missouri just bolstered their resume. Again, it’s Pitt, Nebraska and the rest of the top 16. Bring on Nebraska-Oregon and Pitt-UNC this week.

Punzel: This week the eye test goes to Nebraska as I flip the top two again. Drop Texas three spots out of top 10. Minnesota and Kentucky move back on the list.

Arneal: The top five keep winning, so no need to change those. Kansas was the biggest beneficiary of the chaos this week, rising to No. 6. I debated between Wisconsin and Arizona State but gave the Badgers the edge despite falling to Nebraska. Stanford and Oregon each took a tumble after losing to unranked teams. Speaking of losing to unranked teams, Texas was the most challenging team to slot after it lost to Missouri and Oklahoma. The Longhorns have won against Wisconsin, Florida, and Kentucky, but the version of Texas that lost three straight home matches to unranked opponents isn’t playing like a top-16 team. So UT ends up on the outside for now.

Haley: Pitt and Nebraska continue to show their superiority. Kansas has the strength in statistics but not sold they are a true top-16 team. Flying under the radar is Missouri, beating Texas at home and currently holding seonnd place in the SEC. Miami continues to ride the roller coaster with big wins and big losses.

Ehman: Wow. Another insane week. Actually lots of movement on my poll. Nebraska overtook Pitt for me back at No. 1 after a dominant sweep over Wisconsin. Feel like I just keep flip-flopping the two! It’s an absolute battle at the top. Texas dropped a few after two UNRANKED losses. Arizona State rose a few after two ranked wins. Dayton checks into my top 16 because how can you possibly keep out a one-loss team at this point?

Strong: The Nebraska-Pittsburgh flip-flop continues: I mentioned last week that Nebraska could retake No. 1 with a strong win against Wisconsin, which is exactly what happened. Still very much a 1A/1B scenario for me, though. First time in many weeks (maybe all season, I think?) that I haven’t had the same six teams in some order for my top six, as Stanford’s inconsistency drops them to No. 7 below Kansas. Very excited for Kansas-Arizona State this week. Wasn’t sure at all how far to drop Texas, but ended up dropping them just past the end of this ballot, as Kentucky takes their spot while Minnesota scoots up a couple spots. Considered: Texas, TCU, Baylor, USC

Benton: What a week of upsets! For the first time this season, Arizona State cracks my top 10 and Texas misses the cut. I’m very excited to see Kansas vs. Arizona State. I bumped Stanford and Oregon down a little. With UNC losing to Georgia Tech in five, they move out of my 16th spot.

Chester:  Texas drops out of the top 10 after its third straight five-set loss. Creighton moves into the top five after Stanford was upset by Miami, and I moved Arizona State in the top 10. They just took down two top-25 teams in the Big 12 and still just have two losses. Sets up a nice top-10 battle against KU.

Feinswog: My top five stayed the same, Pitt, Nebraska, Creighton, Penn State and Louisville. Yes, Nebraska had a great victory over Wisconsin, but Pitt is still the same team that beat Stanford and Louisville the week before and won both its matches this week. I had Kansas, Purdue, Stanford next. Stanford lost at Miami on Friday, but — puh-leeze — in a junior high gym where the low ceiling is so low, well, dropping the Cardinals two spots was penalty enough. No, I did not put South Dakota State at No. 16, but the Jackrabbits won twice and are 22-0. Hmmm …

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