You may recall when I did my first power rankings post of the year, I said that I wanted to twin it to the actual AVCA poll. And that's true, I do. But I think one weekend's worth of matches is way too damn soon to be revising rankings. I don't love that the polls tend to be "who lost least recently" rather than a true ranking of teams. So I thought it made sense to do a preseason ranking, but I didn't do a power rankings post this week, nor will I do one next week. My first in-season rankings will correspond to the 16 September poll. From then on, they'll be weekly.
Now, obviously, the American Volleyball Coaches Association disagrees with my philosophy, and that's fine. Ultimately the polls don't really matter much beyond giving the institutions something to brag about. So Texas dropping from near-unanimous #1 down to #6 because of a true road loss to a damn good Hawaii team (who, by the way, cracked the single digits reaching #9)? Fine. Chances are the Longhorns are going to make up the gap in due time. Their five-set win over San Diego actually might have played into their drop as well — they had to come from behind to win it, and actually had to face down a match point in the 4th.
Penn State are the new #1 team in the land, probably the safest choice ever. They scored two sweep wins this weekend at their home invitational, over Syracuse and, more impressively, over Louisville. They'll get to face the reigning national champs this week at the aptly-named Big Four tournament, as well as the Florida Gators. The fourth team involved is Stanford. Pity the Cardinal and the Nittany Lions aren't due to face each other, as it would be a #1 vs. #2 matchup. With eight first-place votes, it is the Cardinal occupying the #2 slot this week. The women of Troy are #3 with two first-place votes.
There are three new teams in the poll, as it was kind of a rough week for the Midwest. Wichita State, Dayton, and Kansas all lost (though all only once), thus forfeiting the right to have a number next to their name. The new teams entering the poll sort of go to illustrate why having new rankings this soon is silly. San Diego enter the poll at #14. Sure they pushed the defending national champions to the brink, but they still lost that match, and I guarantee you that in a couple of weeks no one will enter the poll in the teens. They'll do it in the 21-25 range. Illinois, who also carry a loss (to unranked Long Beach State) enter at #18. The third new team in the rankings is North Carolina at #24. They went 4-0 in their first weekend (only the Minnesota Golden Gophers also played four matches this past weekend and won them all), so that one's fair play. I really should have had them in my preseason power rankings, come to think of it.
There's some moving around amongst the teams in the preseason poll and in this one, too. Kentucky, Purdue, and BYU all remain ranked despite winning just one of three matches in the opening weekend (I expect this will be temporary for BYU, as Jennifer Hamson's decision to redshirt in volleyball this season makes them a lesser team than we would have thought a month or two ago at this time). The biggest climbers this week are the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, moving from #21 to #15 despite also carrying a loss (in three sets, although it was to USC).
You can view the complete poll here.
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