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.
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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:
College volleyball rankings for Nov. 9
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
Others receiving votes: UCLA 82; Colorado State 51; Western Kentucky 33; Missouri 26; Michigan State 25; Miami 22; Colorado 21; Marquette 4; Toledo 4
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College volleyball rankings after Week 11: Updated AVCA Coaches Poll
