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Poll Takeaways: Kentucky Moves Above Louisville
The coaches swapped the two a day after Kentucky's 3-1 win in Lexington. Tennessee climbed three places to 13th, Penn State fell five to 14th, and Nebraska and Pittsburgh finished on exactly last week's totals.
The AVCA poll published on 21 September reversed the two teams that met in Lexington the afternoon before. Kentucky, 3-1 winners over Louisville (19-25, 29-27, 25-21, 25-19) at Historic Memorial Coliseum, went from fourth to third on 1,440 points.
Louisville dropped to fourth on 1,373, still 94 points clear of SMU in fifth. Arizona State over Stanford and Tennessee over Penn State ended the same way on the ballot, with the winner placed above the team it beat. Florida rose two places to eighth and Arizona State three to ninth.
Nebraska kept its 48 first-place votes and 1,560 points, and Pittsburgh its 15 and 1,527, the same figures to the point as the previous week's ballot.
Kentucky's Climb Came After a Lost First Set
Kentucky lost the first set by six while hitting .079 and won the second 29-27 while hitting .420, per the Kentucky box score, before taking the next two.
Brooklyn DeLeye had 22 kills and was named the SEC's player of the week.
The Kentucky senior told UK Athletics after the match.
Everybody knows the first set was bad, but I think the team did a good job of just not letting up. Going into the second set, we knew (the ball) was going to start falling. Making sure that, as a team, we are still being aggressive and not letting up because, against a top three team in the country, they'll put pressure on you if you just take a little bit off.
Kentucky opens its SEC schedule at Vanderbilt on 23 September at 9 p.m. Eastern on SEC Network. Vanderbilt leads the others-receiving-votes line on 74 points, the closest team in the country to a ranking without one, and was unranked when it beat North Carolina in Manhattan on 13 September.
Tennessee Won at Rec Hall and Climbed Three
Tennessee beat Penn State 3-1 (25-19, 25-23, 20-25, 25-20) at Rec Hall on 20 September. It was the program's first win over a top-10 team since beating No. 9 Baylor on 9 September 2021, per Tennessee's recap.
It was also Tennessee's first top-10 win on the road since No. 6 Florida on 25 September 2011. Kennedi Rogers tied her career high with 21 kills and Caroline Kerr had 42 assists, and the coaches moved Tennessee from 16th to 13th on 829 points. Tennessee opens its SEC schedule at home against No. 7 Texas on 25 September.
Tennessee's only defeat this season came against Pittsburgh, in the second week of September.
Penn State went the other way, from ninth to 14th on 809. Tennessee held it to .218 hitting and 22 attack errors, in front of a Rec Hall crowd of more than 4,000.
A week ago the coaches charged Arizona State and Creighton five places each, and North Carolina seven, for losing to unranked teams. This week they charged Penn State five for a home loss to the 16th-ranked team in the country.
Texas A&M won both of its matches, the second of them 3-1 at No. 20 Creighton, and still went from 15th to 16th. Nothing A&M did cost it the place, because Tennessee's climb took it past them.
Nebraska Dropped Two Sets and Kept Every Vote
Nebraska swept No. 20 Creighton on 16 September, then beat No. 25 North Carolina 3-1 (25-14, 20-25, 25-21, 25-10) on 18 September and FGCU 3-1 (25-10, 25-17, 25-27, 25-14) on 20 September.
North Carolina was the second team this season to take a set off Nebraska and FGCU the third, according to each school's recap. Pittsburgh did not play at all between 13 September and this ballot. FGCU took its set in front of 10,497, a sellout, per FGCU's recap.
We wrote a week ago that a Creighton set off Nebraska would send more first-place votes to Pittsburgh. Creighton did not win a set, and the bet was never tested.
Two other teams did take sets, one of them ranked, and not one first-place vote moved in either direction.
Pittsburgh plays California at home on 25 September, then No. 12 Stanford on 27 September, its first ranked opponent since Tennessee. Nebraska restarts its Wrigley Field match against Missouri from 0-0 in Lincoln on 23 September.
On this ballot, a No. 1 that dropped two sets and a No. 2 that did not play were worth exactly what they had been worth a week earlier.
