Updating the world of Women's College Volleyball

As the NCAA Women’s Volleyball season is quickly approaching its conclusion, the final weeks will determine which teams get higher seeds and host, as well as which teams will just miss the cut and not get a chance to compete for ultimate volleyball glory.

Let’s examine the past week in the NCAA and see how it set up the final stretch of regular season play for the current top 10—starting with the Pittsburgh Panthers, who have been the top team in the nation for the past 10 weeks.

No. 1 Pitt (25-1) is led by superstar sophomore duo, Olivia Babcock and Torrey Stafford. The starting pins combined for 77 kills in nine sets, as the Panthers continued their season-long domination sweeping Duke, No. 22 Florida State and Miami in front of their home crowd at Fitzgerald Fieldhouse. The royal and gold once again face off with their bitter rival, the Louisville Cardinals, on Nov. 27 and are poised to claim a top-four seed, hosting every regional round until the Final Four stage is set in Louisville.

Last season’s runner-up, the Nebraska Cornhuskers (26-1), currently sit at No. 2 and seem to be peaking at just the right time. The Huskers added another undefeated week to their resume, beating No. 16 Minnesota in four sets and easily dismantling the Indiana Hoosiers in a quick three-set match. Nebraska runs a balanced offense, facilitated by four-time Big Ten Setter of the Week and reigning Big Ten Setter of the Year, sophomore Bergen Reilly; defensive specialists Lexi Rodriguez, Laney Choboy and Olivia Mauch hold down one of the best backcourts in the nation. The Big Ten powerhouse looks to avenge their heartbreaking championship loss to Texas and seems to have all the potential to do so.

Landing at No. 3 in this week’s poll is Louisville (23-3). On top of bringing in highly-ranked freshman setter Nayelis Cabello, the Cardinals are led by a stacked senior class which includes program legends Anna DeBeer and Elena Scott. Driven by Head Coach Dani Busboom-Kelly, Louisville has become a new mainstay within the sport’s upper echelon over the past years. The Cardinals followed suit with the teams above them, convincingly sweeping each of the three opponents they faced behind a plus-98 point differential overall.

No. 4 is seven-time national champion Penn State, headed by third-year coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley. After landing the top-ranked recruit in the 2024 class, freshman setter Izzy Starck, the Nittany Lions have propelled to a 25-2 overall record. Starck, who leads the Big Ten in assists and is currently top 10 in the nation in assists per set, is surrounded by star hitters who allow her to run a complete offense. Graduate students Jess Mruzik, a recently announced semifinalist for National Player of the Year, and Camryn Hannah make up one of the top outside-hitter combinations in the country. Middles Maggie Mendelson and Taylor Trammell, the NCAA leader in hitting percentage (.466), along with redshirt freshman Caroline Jurevicius round out the front-row attackers that have directed Penn State to the top-ranked position among the conference in total kills (1398). Penn State bested Illinois and Maryland and is poised for a crucial top-10 matchup with No. 8 Purdue at Rec Hall Thursday night.

The Creighton Bluejays (25-2) claimed their eleventh straight Big East regular season title and find themselves ranked at No. 5. Only losing 10 sets all season, with eight of those coming to ranked teams including Nebraska, Louisville, Purdue, and USC, the Bluejays have cruised through conference play with an unscathed record. Creighton boasts two six-rotation outside hitters, Ava Martin and Norah Sis, which is extremely rare and provides extra stability and diversity to the Kendra Wait-led offense. With the Big East Tournament on deck, Creighton looks to continue its recent success in hopes of earning a top-four seed in the final rankings.

After losing their first three matches, the Wisconsin Badgers (20-5) have surged to No. 6 after a massive week. Building off of their biggest win of the season versus No. 4 Penn State last Saturday, the Badgers swept another ranked team in No. 23 USC before defeating UCLA in four sets. Reigning National Player of the Year Sarah Franklin leads the way for Kelly Sheffield’s team with 4.47 kills per set alongside a massive front row with 6 foot 9 inches tall Anna Smrek and 6 feet 7 inches tall Carter Booth. Wisconsin’s physicality sets them apart from the rest of the field. If the Badgers want to hold onto any chance to win the Big Ten, they have a prime opportunity this Saturday night, when they travel to Lincoln to take on the second-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers. The implications of this rematch from the 2021 Championship are tremendous.

The 21-4 Stanford Cardinal find themselves down one spot from last week at No. 7. The ACC debutants currently hold a 13-3 in-conference record, including recent sweeps over Virginia, Virginia Tech and No. 16 Georgia Tech. Standout senior setter Kami Miner captains the Cardinal, who are looking to get back to the top of the mountain that they have so often reached (nine times to be exact), most recently in 2019. Stanford graduated Kendall Kipp, its most reliable attacker, but junior outside-hitter Elia Rubin has taken the majority of the load, owning a team-best 324 kills on the season; fifth-year libero Elena Ogilive commands Stanford’s defense.

At No. 8 are the Boilermakers of Purdue (22-5). Dave Shondell’s team is riding a six-game winning streak after conquering in-conference opponents Michigan, Rutgers, and Illinois - each in a sweep. Outsides Chloe Chicoine, a sophomore, and Eva Hudson, a junior compose most of Purdue’s point scoring, but the Boilermakers’ pleasant surprise of the year has come out of senior middle blocker Raven Colvin. Colvin is fourth in Division 1 with 1.57 blocks per set and is the main contributor to the team’s top-eleven ranking in blocks per set (2.8) nationwide. Purdue is headed to Rec Hall for a marquee matchup with No. 4 Penn State on Thursday night as they look to add another win to their streak and spoil the Nittany Lions’ Big Ten title hopes.

The No. 9 spot was given to the Arizona State Sun Devils (26-2). Two sweeps over West Virginia and Cincinnati have boosted ASU to a 14-1 conference record and the number one spot in the Big 12 with only three more games to play. The Sun Devils have risen to volleyball relevancy thanks to the fantastic play of graduate students Mary Sholl (libero), Argentina Ung (setter), and Claire Jeter (middle). Ung leads a fast-paced offense off of Shroll’s consistent excellent passing (highlighted by her .969 reception percentage—a statistic that grades what percent of passes are “positive” or perfect.) The veteran trio for Arizona State has instituted a new standard of excellence for the program and looks to validate their recent success with a deep tournament run.

The SMU Mustangs (21-6) round out the top 10. After their shocking early-season upsets over No. 1 Pitt and No. 2 Nebraska, the Mustangs have cooled off a bit but have still maintained an excellent record. Third-year head coach Sam Erger has led one of the most fun-to-watch teams to new heights, with this year being the peak. Senior setter Celia Cullen steers the Mustangs’ attack which includes emerging stars such as opposite Naya Shime, outside Maya Tabron, and middle Natalie Foster. Foster holds the fourth-highest hitting percentage in the ACC (.364) and averages the second-most aces per set (0.59) sitting only behind Olivia Babcock - who some see as a favorite for National Player of the Year. Topping No. 25 North Carolina, Miami and No. 22 Florida State this past week, SMU is continuing to put itself in a great position to host at least its first two matches in the tournament.

New rankings are released each Monday at 3 p.m. EST. Come back next week for another breakdown and re-examination of the college volleyball landscape.

Luke Armstrong is a first-year majoring in digital and print journalism. To contact him, email lea5382@psu.edu