What a wild (interesting?) Week 1 in college volleyball. No better way to start the season than with a plethora of unexpected, or maybe expected, upsets.
Baylor took down the reigning national champions, Wisconsin, in a five-set, point-for-point, thriller after losing the majority of its core from last season and star hitter, Yossiana Pressley.
Texas took down Ohio State in two consecutive matchups. No. 12 UCLA was upset by Utah State, No. 11 Kentucky was defeated by Marquette, San Diego took down the No. 6 team, Pittsburgh, and more.
So obviously, this stuff is ever-changing. With very little to go off on, we are going to compile our top 10 teams based on just last week along. Granted, it will probably be shaken up beyond belief in just a week's time.
I am compiling these rankings mostly on ranked wins in the first week, the eye test and somewhat on previous rankings, although it is a little too early for that, Let's go!
1. Texas The Longhorns move into the No. 1 spot in my first regular-season Power 10 rankings. I still think they are practically tied with Nebraska, but how can you not move them into the No. 1 spot after they took down a top-10 team in Ohio State TWICE in the opening weekend?
1. Texas The Longhorns showed just how dominant they can be this season in the very first two matchups of the year for them, and, they did it on the road. The talent on this team is pretty unreal. Logan Eggleston led the way, of course, with 33 kills in the two matchups and five service aces. Madi Skinner proved she will likely be another leading scorer for Texas and a big-time name this year. She was a huge factor, with 26 kills on .340 hitting over the weekend.
1. Texas Head coach Jerritt Elliott seemingly went with Asjia O'Neal and Molly Phillips for his middle blockers, and they both showed out. Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres was impressive at setter, as was Zoe Fleck at libero. Basically, this team has no holes. And it was only the first weekend ... look out.
2. Nebraska As I mentioned above, if I could make this a tie for first, I likely would. The Huskers did nothing to move down a spot other than the fact that Texas played higher-ranked teams over the first weekend. Nebraska opened up the season with three consecutive sweeps.
2. Nebraska Madi Kubik, as expected, led the way in scoring with 36 kills over the weekend. Out of the multiple freshmen that arose last season, it was Whitney Launstein who impressed the most early in 2022.
2. Nebraska Launstein is right behind Kubik with 31 kills on an impressive .351 hitting. It was exciting to see Kaitlyn Hord suited up in Husker red, and she impressed right out of the gates. Hord leads the team with 18 blocks, so far.
3. Louisville The Louisville Cardinals remain my No. 3 team after the opening weekend. They too are 3-0 on the season now with three sweeps over Northern Kentucky, South Dakota and Missouri. This team looks incredibly balanced already, with Anna DeBeer leading the scoring effort but followed closely by Claire Chaussee, Aiko Jones and Amaya Tillman.
3. Louisville Raquel Lazaro had the majority of time at setter over the weekend, though Elle Glock and Paige Morningstar got some time as well.
4. Minnesota Here is a big move for you. Minnesota is up as my No. 4 team over Wisconsin. The Gophers took down Baylor in the opening match of the season 3-1, and then swept TCU the following day. Taylor Landfair and Jenna Weenas look to be leading the way for the Gophers, and looked really impressive at the corners early in the season.
4. Minnesota We also saw the emergence of freshman Carter Booth, for the first time. Booth had seven kills and two blocks in the win over TCU and six kills with 11 blocks in her debut match.
4. Minnesota This ranking could possibly change very soon, considering the Gophers will face Texas in a mid-week matchup, then Florida on Sunday. But, I think they deserved the jump ahead of the big matchup for taking down a good team very early on.
5. Wisconsin I dropped the reigning champs down to No. 5 following the five-set loss to Baylor. But boy was it close. I had a very good feeling that this Badger team would have some growing pains early in the season. I mean, who wouldn't after losing Dana Rettke, Lauren Barnes and Sydney Hilley?
6. Georgia Tech I have the Yellow Jackets up at six following the drop of Ohio State. The Yellow Jackets pulled off two wins over Ole Miss and Illinois. These are two good teams, and Illinois was ranked No. 17 in the preseason AVCA poll. The biggest concern for the Jackets this year was how Julia Bergmann was going to do it alone.
6. Georgia Tech We will need to see more of that as the season goes on, but Bergmann's dominance is undeniable. The Jackets are up at No. 6 for now, and I am so excited to see them face some top teams in the Georgia Tech Classic in a few weeks. (Okay, FYI, 7-10 is where things get difficult)
7. Baylor So... who to put at No. 7. Ohio State is 0-2 on the season, Kentucky lost to Marquette, UCLA was upset by Utah State, Washington split with Arkansas, etc. No one really made it easy on me this week. Baylor is 1-1, yes, but with a loss to Minnesota, a team in my top five now, and win over the reigning national champions, Wisconsin.
8. Purdue Welcome, Purdue. No. 8 was another difficult spot, but I moved Purdue in after a solid 3-0 start to the volleyball season. The Boilermakers walked away from opening weekend with two sweeps and a four-set win over Tennessee. We better start getting used to some new names when it comes to Purdue.
9. San Diego Now, here's a shocker... and I can guarantee you this will look fairly different in the AVCA poll. But I am going to give San Diego a shot here after its impressive opening weekend. The Toreros opened the season with a big 3-2 win over No. 6 Pittsburgh behind an incredible performance from Grace Frohling.
9. San Diego So if they only stay here for one week, then no harm done. But why not put them in when they beat stronger teams than most other options and so many preseason-ranked teams lost early on? I am going with the Toreros here.
10. Ohio State Lastly, and for the highly anticipated 10th spot in my Power 10, I am sticking with Ohio State here. This was a tough decision, considering the Buckeyes are now 0-2 on the season with two losses to Texas. And, in the second matchup, although they won the first set ... they fell pretty badly in the next three sets. BUT, this is to the No. 1 team in the nation.
10. Ohio State Had Ohio State played anyone else, they would still be very much so in the higher portion of this ranking. I considered a Washington here, and Pittsburgh who is now 2-1 on the season. But I have got to stick with Ohio State for one more week before they play another slew of tough, ranked teams: San Diego, Louisville, BYU, Georgia Tech, Tennessee and Pittsburgh. (😅) That is one insane schedule for the Buckeyes.
10. Ohio State I give them credit for going for such a tough non-conference schedule, and I am going to keep them here. This team has a lot to work on, but they just might figure that out a lot earlier than most with this schedule.
Other teams in consideration: Pittsburgh, Washington, BYU, Stanford, Florida