Nebraska at Wisconsin tops NCAA volleyball slate; AVCA Poll, POW; McCutcheon news

Finally.

For the first time since Wisconsin beat Nebraska in a battle for the ages last December to win the NCAA title, the two Big Ten powers play Wednesday night. 

And this match in Madison has plenty on the line, not the least of which is top-four NCAA Tournament seeding implications.

We’ve also got a Hugh McCutcheon update, the AVCA Poll and POW, and Monday’s and Tuesday’s results.

WEDNESDAY SCHEDULE: Please don’t call it a rematch, because both rosters are vastly different from when Wisconsin won it all 22-25, 31-29, 25-23, 23-25, 15-12 in a legitimate thrillier (a term too often used as a cliche for every five-set match played) that showcased college volleyball in the best way possible.

Now, Nebraska (18-1, 10-0 B1G) has moved into the top spot in this week’s AVCA Poll, while Wisconsin (15-3, 9-1) is No. 5. Their match is on the Big Ten Network at 9 p.m. Eastern with Anne Marie Anderson on the call and VolleyballMag.com contributer Emily Ehman handling analysis. Anderson will join Ehman, Southern Miss coach Jenny Hazelwood and VBM editor Lee Feinswog on Monday for the weekly NCAA Zoom.

Nebraska has won 11 in a row since its only loss, in four sets September 13 to Stanford. Wisconsin has won eight in a row. Wisconsin won both their regular-season meetings last season, a sweep on October 27 at Nebraska and then in four November 26 in Madison. 

Also in the Big Ten on Wednesday, sixth-ranked Ohio State (13-5, 9-1), tied with Wisconsin in second place, is home for Michigan (13-7, 4-6), No. 9 Minnesota (12-6, 7-3) is home for Michigan State (10-11, 1-9) and No. 11 Penn State (17-4, 6-4) is at Illinois (9-11, 4-6),which precedes the Nebraska-Wisconsin match on the B1G Network.

There’s a fight for first in the SEC, when No. 14 Florida (15-4, 7-2) goes to Auburn (18-2, 7-2), which isn’t even receiving votes in the AVCA Poll. Also in the SEC, Ole Miss (9-10, 5-4) goes to Mississippi State (11-8, 4-5). 

In the Big 12, Texas (15-1, 7-1), which dropped to No. 2 in the poll, is home for Texas Tech (14-7, 3-5). No. 13 Baylor (17-4, 6-2) is at Oklahoma (11-9, 1-7), Iowa State (14-7, 6-2) is at West Virginia (7-14, 0-8) and Kansas (15-5, 5-3) goes to TCU (10-9, 5-3).

The lone ACC match has No. 4 Louisville (18-2, 9-10 and coming off its first loss, home for Notre Dame (9-1, 4-6).

The only Big East match as No. 16 Marquette at DePaul. 

The top two teams in the MAAC play when Fairfield plays host to Siena, which will try to close the two-game gap. Siena has won eight in a row, its longest streak since 2014.

NEW JOB FOR MCCUTCHEON: Last week, McCutcheon, who has been the head coach at Minnesota for 11 years, announced he was leaving the job at the end of the season. McCutcheon, who coached the USA men to 2008 Olympic gold and the USA women to 2012 Olympic silver, has taken Minnesota to three NCAA national semifinals. Tuesday, the school announced that McCutcheon “will transition into the newly-created role of Assistant Athletics Director / Sport Development Coach on Jan. 1, 2023.”

Minnesota also announced its search committee to find a replacement for McCutcheon. Click here for more.

AVCA TOP 25: With Texas taking its first loss of the season to unranked Iowa State and Louisville losing to ACC rival Pittsburgh, movement at the top for the first time in a long while was inevitable.

Nebraska moved up two spots to No. 1, Texas dropped to No. 2, San Diego moved up a spot to No. 3, Louisville fell two spots to No. 4, while Wisconsin stayed No. 5.

Ohio State stayed sixth, Pittsburgh moved up a spot to No. 7, Stanford — which recorded two sweeps — dropped a spot to eighth, Minnesota stayed No. 9 and Georgia Tech remained 10th.

Creighton moved up three spots to No. 15, Marquette did the same at No. 16, USC — which lost to Stanford — moved in at No. 24 and UCF is back in at No. 25. Pepperdine and Michigan dropped out. 

Click here for the complete AVCA Division I Coaches Poll.

AVCA POW: The national player of the week is Stanford sophomore setter Kami Miner, who led her team to two sweeps that resulted in the Cardinal dropping a spot in the AVCA Poll. Miner averaged 13.5 assists in the six sets.

MONDAY-TUESDAY: All the Monday action was in the SWAC. Grambling swept Southern on as Jayden James had 15 kills and nine digs … Alcorn beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff in five as three players had 11 or more kills, 13 by Makayla Wardlaw, who had 10 digs and a block … Alabama State swept Jackson State as the Hornets hit .384 and Jada Rhodes had 15 kills, two aces, four digs and a solo block … Alabama A&M swept Mississippi Valley.

Tuesday there were four matches in the Atlantic 10 as league-leader Loyola Chicago improved to 18-7, 12-0 with a four-set win over Saint Louis. Addie Barnes and Karlie McNabb had 17 kills each for the Ramblers … Davidson (17-6, 11-1) stayed a game off the lead by winning in four at VCU as Anela Davis had six kills in nine errorless attacks to go with an ace, a dig and seven blocks, one solo. Sola Omonije had 14 kills and eight blocks … Dayton swept at Duquesne and George Washington beat George Mason in four … 

In the Ohio Valley, SIUE won in five at Lindenwood … Utah State hit .336 as it won its Mountain West match at Boise State in four. Kylee Stokes had 11 kills with two errors in 21 attacks to go with six blocks … UC Davis won its Big West match at UC Riverside in four as Jade Light and Demari Webb had 10 kills each.

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