Who wants to be #1?

Anybody?

So let's take a season-long look at the fates of those receiving the #1 ranking in the AVCA Division I poll, shall we? It hasn't been a pretty picture.

The preseason #1, in a vote that surprised no one, was Texas. The defending national champions, returning just about everybody from that squad, were sure to be the top team in the land in that first ranking. My only surprise was that it was not unanimous.

Much like the Sports Illustrated cover or the Madden NFL football cover, being selected as the #1 team means there quite literally is only one way to go from there (as opposed to any 'jinx'). Unless you count holding steady as a direction. The recipients of the first of several #1 designations, the Texas Longhorns got their season off to an ignominious start. They suffered a four-set defeat to the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine at the latter's first preseason home invitational. It wasn't a great showing, other than the one set they did win (.625 hitting clip in set two). After getting off the bus and sweeping UTEP, the Longhorns then played a then-unranked San Diego Toreros team, squeaking past them in five grueling sets. That performance looked terrible at the time, started to look better for a while there, and now maybe it kind of looks ehh again.

A loss so early in the season was sure to send Texas from the top line, and in the first weekly AVCA poll, it was the Penn State Nittany Lions who ascended to the top of the mountain. And they perhaps proved the frugality of the rankings. Did they lose as #1? Yes they did, in a five-set barnburner to Texas at the Nike Big Four, which was held at….oh, Austin, Texas. So a true road loss to the team who began the year #1 in the rankings, in five sets, with just three points' difference in the total scores. What does that get you? Two knocks down in the poll, apparently. Even a sweep over Florida the next night did little to help the Nittany Lions keep their top ranking.

Next to get the nod from the voters were the USC Trojans. It was a close vote, with them getting a comparatively paltry 37 of the 60 first-place votes and finishing only 19 total points clear of Texas at #2 (meaning the ballots that did not have USC #1 had them much lower than the ballots that did not have Texas #1). The women of Troy promptly dropped their first match with the top ranking, to the same then-surging San Diego team that had knocked off Texas in Hawaii. Much like Penn State's loss to Texas, this was a true road match, as this was the Toreros' home invitational. USC rebounded the next day to post wins over UCSB and Eastern Washington, but one loss as #1 in the nation means you're outta there. And indeed they were.

The voters went back to State College, Pennsylvania for the next #1, as Penn State re-assumed the mantle. I agonised a bit over this one in my own power rankings, as this was the absolute zenith on the season for San Diego. They were #2 overall, with 13 first-place votes. The Nittany Lions became the first team to retain the #1 ranking from one week to the next this season, taking nine straight sets at their home invitational over Albany, Eastern Kentucky, and Yale, but right around the corner came Big Ten season. They started off with the two Michigan schools, the surprise darlings of last year's NCAA tournament. The occasionally-forgotten Michigan State Spartans came to town first, and beat Penn State in five on their home court. Again, as losses go, this isn't a terrible one, though it is certainly worse than the at-Texas loss. The next night, the Nittany Lions beat Michigan in four sets, but surely they knew their time as #1 was again done.

The most recent recipients of #1 were the Washington Huskies. It wasn't a particularly close vote — they were 60 rankings points clear of USC at #2 — but there was an interesting constellation of first-place votes, as seven different schools received them. The Huskies, straight off a 10-0 start to the season, albeit in a rather weak non-conference schedule, got the most. Everyone knew that Washington would not end the season undefeated — the Pac-12 is just too strong — but I don't know if anyone thought they'd notch their first loss as quickly as they did. On their first road trip as #1 in the nation, the Huskies dropped a four-setter to….wait, they lost to Colorado? Why yes they did. No disrespect meant to the Buffaloes, but in them we're talking about a team who haven't been to the NCAA tournament since 2006, and just this season bear losses to the likes of Utah and Wyoming. Their beating Washington, even on their own home court, even with the Huskies holding a marshmallow-soft 10-0 record, is a big upset.  The Huskies get their second and, for now at least, final match as #1 later tonight against Utah.

So that means that so far this season, teams ranked #1 in the nation have gone just 10-5. There's bad luck, there's having a target on your backs, and then there's this. Talk about a crazy season.

Who will be #1 on Monday? Who knows. Probably USC, since they were #2 in the last poll and swept aside Stanford, looking to do the same to Cal tomorrow night. But you could make the case for Florida, Penn State again, Texas again, or even Hawaii.

One thing's for absolutely sure — expect the unexpected this year. If that trend continues into the NCAA tournament, who knows who we may see in Seattle hoisting the trophy.