Despite splitting its weekend series with Ohio State to fall to 10-2, Nebraska only dropped one spot in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll.
The Huskers are ranked fifth this week. Nebraska was No. 5 in the preseason and week one polls before moving up to No. 4 in week two, and they spent five weeks in that spot before dropping this week.
After splitting with the Huskers in Lincoln over the weekend, both five-set matches, the Buckeyes moved up two spots to No. 9. Ohio State entered the rankings at No. 19 in week five after a 9-0 start to the season, held steady there the next week then jumped up eight spots to No. 11 in week six after extending their winning streak to 12.
“They have a new coach that’s done a good job with them,” Coach John Cook said last week before the Buckeyes visited Lincoln. “They return all of their players and added a great freshman in [Emily] Londot. They’re loaded. They’ve got firepower, they’ve got a setter who’s very active, so we’ve got to deal with that. You have to remember they beat Wisconsin at the end of last year, so this is not a fluke team or all of a sudden a Cinderella team. It’s a team that’s older, they’ve got good players and now they’ve got a coach who’s helping them play really well.”
Wisconsin (10-0) remains at No. 1 despite not playing the last two weeks with COVID-19 issues in the program. No. 2 Texas (19-0) received five first-place votes and No. 3 Kentucky (18-0) received one.
Minnesota (11-1) is the team that jumped in from of Nebraska to No. 5. The Buckeyes jumped in front of Purdue (9-5) who remained at No. 10. Penn State held steady at No. 12, giving the Big Ten half of the top 12 in the poll.
Nebraska will face Iowa this week, hitting the road to play in Iowa City on Wednesday before retuning to Lincoln to host the Hawkeyes at the Devaney Center on Saturday.