Week 9 Preview; Weekend

I usually start with the Pac-10 because it’s the strongest conference and every weekend you’re guaranteed marquee matchups.  But the Games Of The Weekend is, thankfully for variety’s sake, in the Big 10 and Big XII:

• The top two teams in the AVCA Top 25 poll, and the two last undefeated teams in the land, are at home facing Top-10 squads.  Top-ranked Penn St. serves it up against #7 Minnesota Friday night at 6 CDT.  Can the Gophers avenge their three-set sweep at home just 19 days ago?  You should be able to hear the Minnesota feed ten minutes before the game’s scheduled to start here, and you can track the game here.
• In an unusual Friday match, #2 Texas hosts #8 Nebraska.  Can the Huskers, who have taken a couple very noticeable hits this year, finally blemish the perfect mark of the conference-leading Longhorns?  Game starts at 6, and there are only general admission tickets available, according to Texas Media Relations.  You should be able to listen to the Nebraska feed here starting 15 minutes before first serve, and you can track the game here.
• The SoCal schools visit the NorCal schools this weekend, and all four of them are ranked.  On Friday night at 9, USC, ranked #16 will visit fourth-ranked Stanford (track the game here) while #11 UCLA throws down with #14 Cal (watch the game here – and by the way, speaking as a blogger, a women’s college volleyball fan and a poor person, I like Cal more than Stanford now that I know that Cal lets you watch games for free and Stanford doesn’t).  Partners be swappin’ for Halloween night: Women of Troy at Bears (watch) and Bruins at Cardinal (track).  Both of those games also start at 9.
• Arizona faces the gauntlet this weekend.  Luckily, the #18 Wildcats get both ranked Washington schools at home.  The games against fifth-ranked Washington Friday (track) and #21 Washington St. Halloween (track) start at 9.  Note that the three games being played on Halloween are between ranked teams.  By the way, Washington and Stanford are tied for the conference at 7-2, with UCLA a game behind, Cal and Washington St. behind them, and Oregon, USC and Arizona all behind those two.

And in games in the lower levels of Women’s College Volleyball Nation:

• The top two teams in the Atlantic Sun face each other tonight.  The Lipscomb Lady Bisons are a perfect 15-0 in the conference and have won their last 17 matches.  But they go to Jacksonville and face the Dolphins, 12-2 in the A-Sun but riding a 13-game winning streak.  The conference has an Internet feed website called ASUN TV, but this match, quite possibly the most important of the season, is not one of the games streaming online.  Hmmm. …  Anyway, the game begins at 6.
• The top four teams in the Big West square off this weekend.  UC-Davis hosts UC-Irvine (ranked #23 in the AVCA) in a battle between the teams tied for first place in the conference Friday at 9.  (Sorry, no free video, audio or tracking anywhere as far as I can see.)  Saturday night at 9, Long Beach St. goes to UC-Santa Barbara.  The visiting 49ers/Beach are a half-game off of the lead, while the Gauchos are only a half-game behind them (track).  UCSB, by the way, is led by Outside Hitter Rebecca Saraceno, who this week was named the conference Player Of The Week for the fourth time this season, the first Gaucho and only the sixth player to do so in Big West history.
• Delaware, 8-1 and leading the Colonial Athletic Association, hosts William & Mary, tied for second and one-and-a-half games behind the Blue Hens, All Hallows’ Eve at 6.  I’m not exactly sure if it was to make this game their “Dig Pink” breast cancer research game.  If the fans are creative enough, we’ll see a lot of Kate Gosselins and Balloon Boys wearing pink, I think.  Watch the video here, but you must have RealPlayer.
• There is a two-way tie atop Conference USA between Southern Miss and Tulane.  The Golden Eagles face no close competitors in-conference this weekend, but the Green Wave do.  Tulane travels to SMU Friday and faces the Mustangs, who sit 1 1/2 games behind the leaders and currently enjoy an 11-match winning streak at home; first serve’s at 7 (track).  The Green Wave then play at Tulsa, who sit a half-game behind them in second place, Sunday at 1 CST (remember, Daylight Saving[s] Time ends early Sunday).  The Golden Hurricane have won nine in a row heading into this weekend’s action.  Track that game here.
• Grand Forks, N.D. is the place to be for potentially the biggest game in the Great West Conference this season.  Co-leaders North Dakota and Utah Valley, both sporting 7-1 conference records, oppose the net Saturday at high noon.  You can hear the Fighting Sioux audio feed for free here, but you have to register.  Otherwise, you can track the match here.
• In the Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference’s Northern Division, second-place Delaware St. visits Maryland-Eastern Shore Friday at 6.  The host Hawks are a perfect 6-0 in MEAC play and have won eight straight, while the Hornets sit a game back at 5-1.  You might be able to see the game here through Windows Media Player, otherwise you can track the game here.
• Long Island leads the Northeast Conference with a 10-0 record, a full game ahead of Sacred Heart (7-1).  But those two teams meet in Fairfield, Conn. Halloween afternoon at 1.  You can register for free to watch the game through Sacred Heart’s website, and you can also track the game here.
• And finally, in the Ivy League, Yale (6-1) tries to tie unbeaten Penn for the lead Friday at 6.  The match will be held at the world-famous Palestra in Philadelphia.  What a big sports weekend for Philly; the Phillies can take command of the World Series at home, the Eagles host Washington on Sunday — and the Quakers take on the Bulldogs in women’s college volleyball!  Two things to touch on: 1) The Ivy League is so cooperative that when you click on Yale’s links to free live stats (which is available shortly prior to the start of the game) and to register for the webcast, you’re taken to Penn’s website; and 2) check out the picture of the Yale logo carved into a pumpkin on the women’s volleyball index page.  Very neat.

Happy Halloween, everybody!

Week 9 Preview; Midweek — Two Big XII Showdowns

Only two big matches before the weekend, both in the Big 12, both tonight:

• Baylor, ranked 22nd in this week’s AVCA poll, takes on Iowa St., currently enjoying program bests of a #9 ranking and an eight-game winning streak.  The battle in Ames, Iowa begins at 6:30.  Iowa St. apparently has no one tracking the game, and you’ll have to pay a fee to watch; Baylor may allow you to watch the game for free here.
• A half-hour later in College Station, Texas, undefeated and second-ranked Texas face hated in-state rivals, Texas A&M (25th in the poll).  This game is part of an all-sport competition between the two teams, and the Longhorns currently lead 1/2 to 0 because the women’s volleyball team swept the Aggies Sep. 30.  Track the game here.

Week 8 Review

The AVCA poll for the week is here.  The record for Penn St. is a typo; they’re still undefeated after beating Indiana and Purdue 3-0 each.

• The Upset Of The Weekend happened in Pullman, Wash., as Washington St. upset their in-state rivals Washington in four sets Friday night before Wazzu’s largest crowd in a dozen years.  The Cougars hadn’t beaten the Huskies since 2002, a span of 13 games.  This game was Washington St.’s “Dig Pink/Dig For The Cure” game, the event raising awareness and money for breast cancer research, and if memory serves, these special games have been huge harbingers of success for the host teams.  Wazzu is the sole newcomer to this week’s poll, ranked 21st, while U-Dub, now in a tie with Stanford atop the Pac-10, falls one spot to #5.
• Elsewhere in the Pac-10 … The Huskies also cede their spot as the Highest-Ranked Team From The Pac-10 to the Cardinal.  They defended Maples Pavilion by sweeping both Arizona schools, including a 22-21-23 defeat of Arizona Sunday afternoon.  They rise two spots to #4 in the AVCA … It wasn’t a great weekend for the Arizonas, as both teams went 0-4; Arizona also lost at Cal in four sets Friday.  Outside Hitter Hana Cutura, named Pac-10 Player Of The Week, notched a career-high 31 kills in beating the Wildcats Friday, another “Dig Pink/For The Cure” match.  UA loses two spots to #18; Cal goes up one to 14th … Having an equally bad weekend on the road: Oregon, which got licked by both UCLA and USC.  Friday night’s loss went the distance after the Ducks lost the first two sets.  Bruins OH Kaitlin Sather reached 1,000 kills and digs in her career in this game, the 12th UCLA player in history to do so.  Coming back from two sets down probably sapped all the energy out of UO, as they were subsequently swept by the Women Of Troy the next night, 24-23-28.  Oregon falls three places to 15th; UCLA is up two to #11; and USC also rises two notches to #16.
• The Game Of The Weekend may have been the SEC clash in Lexington, Ky. Saturday.  LSU was leading two sets to one before Kentucky won the game in five.  The match featured 13 lead changes and 32 ties.  The Wildcats now lead the SEC all by their lonesomes, yet because they were upset by Tennessee, they drop five spots to #12, the steepest drop in this week’s AVCA.  Florida is now the highest-ranked SEC team at #10.  LSU is level at 20th.
• In the only game between ranked teams in the Big 10, Minnesota downed Michigan in four sets Saturday night in a special “Dig Pink” game played in Williams, the basketball arena.  The Gophers rose two notches #7 (one spot behind Illinois) while the Wolverines drop two places to 13th.
• Iowa St. is the Fast Riser Of The Week: The Cyclones followed up its historic first-ever win over Nebraska Wednesday by sweeping Texas Tech on Saturday, thereby going from 14th to 9th, their highest ranking ever.  Nebraska rebounded by defeating Oklahoma in four sets Saturday, but they are now only one spot ahead of Iowa St., dropping three from fifth.
• The Sooners, however, did claim a couple feathers in their caps that I missed giving props to my two previous blogs: They beat ranked teams back-to-back for the first time in program history.  On the 17th they defeated Baylor, and on Wednesday they swept Texas A&M.  They did end their losing to the Huskers, but they’re now on the list of Receiving Votes.  That defeat by the Sooners explains the Aggies dropping four notches to #25.
• Also in the lower reaches of the AVCA … UC Irvine is down four places to #23 after their five-set loss to UC Santa Barbara at home Friday night.  The Anteaters have now been swept for the season by the Gauchos, who are now in first place in the Big West.  UCSB, also in the Receiving Votes category, have now played in eight five-set matches … and Colorado St., who were ranked for the first time all season last week, is now out of the AVCA Top 25 after Thursday’s sweep at TCU.  In front of a record crowd in Fort Worth, the Horned Frogs ended the Rams’ winning streak at 12 games.
• Meanwhile, in mid-major and in-conference matches highlighted in my last post … Duke marched into Atlanta Saturday night and came back from a 2-1 set deficit to defeat Georgia Tech, taking sole possession of  second place in the ACC … Furman remains undefeated in Southern Conference play after beating Furman in four sets Sunday afternoon.  The Paladins have now won 11 straight, longest in school history … and conference leader Army has a 13-match winning streak after outlasting second-place Colgate in five sets Friday afternoon and then Bucknell in four Saturday afternoon.  They are still unbeaten in the Patriot League.

Week 8 Preview; Weekend

• Let’s start in the Pac-10.  With seven teams ranked in the AVCA poll, there is bound to be at least two teams playing ranked teams every weekend, and there are two of them this weekend.  Oregon (12 in the AVCA poll) travels to Los Angeles and plays UCLA (13) Friday night at 9 CDT (it might be watchable through UCLA here, otherwise you can listen to the match here) and USC (18) Saturday afternoon at 4 (track the game here).  Arizona, 16th in the AVCA and having a quietly awesome season, will also be playing two ranked teams on the road, Cal (15) Friday at 9 (track) then Stanford (6) Sunday afternoon at 3 (track).
• One big Big 1o matchup for the weekend, and once again it involves Minnesota (9).  Saturday night the Golden Gophers host Michigan (11) in a match set not in their usual court, the Sports Pavilion, but Williams Arena, the place where the basketball teams play.  They play a regular season game here once a season for school spirit reasons, but this time around they are adding a “Dig Pink” campaign to raise money for breast cancer research.  Game starts at 7 CDT; I think you can watch the game for free here, otherwise you can track the game through animation here.
• I am remiss to catch up on some developments regarding the SEC, which now has three teams ranked in the Top 25.  The lowest of these, LSU, may be in the best form as of late.  The 20th-ranked Lady Tigers have won eight games in a row, the last five by sweep.  They travel to Lexington to play Kentucky (7) Saturday afternoon in a clash of division leaders.  LSU seeks vengeance for a 3-0 drubbing they suffered at the mitts of the Wildcats in Baton Rouge Sep. 20.  Match starts 12:30 CDT; track the game here.

It’s high time I start highlighting games in conferences who don’t necessarily have multiple ranked teams.  This is the time when conference matches heat up; wins may mean the difference in conference tournaments and, later, the NCAA tournament.

• It’s still Florida St. and the Pips in the ACC.  The Seminoles are the only team getting any props nationally (they’re 17th in the AVCA), but they’re only one game ahead of Duke and Georgia Tech in-conference.  Those two teams square off Saturday in Atlanta.  First serve is at 6 (track).
• Did you know that in the Summit Leauge, North Dakota St. has an 11-0 conference record and league by four games?  Living in Minnesota you hear a lot of noise about Dakotas sports.  Schools in both North and South Dakota have decided to move up to Division I, and last year the four teams in the the two states (North Dakota, South Dakota, North Dakota St. and South Dakota St.) had a very subtle but impressive string of victories.  These programs are making a name for themselves by being quite successful in non-revenue Olympic sports.  I was going to right about the match Friday nigh between the teams in second and third place, Oakland and Oral Roberts, but it seems futile now that I think of it.
• The two teams atop their divisions in the Southern Conference square off Sunday afternoon.  Furman is the only team to be undefeated in league play, and the South Division leaders host Samford, leaders of the North Division, at high noon.  By the way, Furman is located in Greenville, S.C.
• In the Patriot League, the United States Military Corps — that’s the full and correct term for Army, correct? — are a perfect 7-0, and they face Colgate, who are in second place and one game behind, this (Friday) afternoon.  Army gets to host — they are located in West Point, which is in New York — and the game starts at 10:45 CDT.  Here’s the page to get to the link that’ll let you track the game; this service doesn’t open up the page until the game is about to start, I guess.  The Colgate Raiders seek revenge for a four-set loss at home at the hands of the Black Knights (that’s a great nickname, isn’t it?) Sep. 26.

I feel bad that I haven’t been able to canvas all the other conferences, but I hope to hit all of them before conference tournaments begin.

Week 7 Review/Week 8 Preview & Review; Midweek — More Looong Streaks Come To An End

Sorry I’m late for this, guys, I had some more writing to do.

AVCA’s poll for the week is here.  Rundown of the big games and those of note:

• Oh my freakin’ God, I didn’t know this was true at all, but now that I do this is, like, really stupendous news: Wednesday night, Iowa St. beat Nebraska for the first time … EVER.  It was a five-set slugfest, and the Cyclones (ranked 14th in the poll) had to win the last two sets, but they finally beat the Huskers (5) after starting conference play against each other 75 matches and over 33 years ago.  The fall of 1975?  I was, like, gestating in my mother’s womb.  Moreover, Iowa St. did it at the NU Coliseum.  The Huskers seemed to have their play locked in at catching Big 12-leading Texas, but this history-making, streak-ending loss pairs with the loss to UCLA earlier in the year (which ended their five-year winning streak at the Coliseum) that makes volleyball enthusiasts think that, maybe, the program is slipping.  You should read the article for the picture alone; the Iowa St. Sports Department is so geeked out over finally beating Nebraska that its photo is a shot of the scoreboard.  Gotta love it!
• Pay respects to a great coach marking a hell of a milestone: Hawai’i Head Coach Dave Shoji won the 1,000th game of his career as the Rainbow Wahine defeated New Mexico St. in four sets in Honolulu.  The Aggies clipped a set — they are also the last team before Saturday night’s match to win a set against third-ranked Hawai’i — but they were not stopping them from remaining undefeated in the WAC and 16-2 for the season.  Shoji now joins UCLA’s Andy Banachowski as the only women’s volleyball coaches to reach 1,000 wins in the NCAA.  To celebrate, Hawai’i Governor Linda Lingle proclaimed Saturday “Dave Shoji Day.”  Geez, I don’t see the sense of giving a man a day that’s just about over.  And I thought they were going to rename the court after him?  Anyway, there’s a cute photo of the team lifting up Shoji, who’s wearing a crown on his head.  Bow down, Women’s College Volleyball Nation.
• In the ultra-competitive Pac-10, Washington remains on top (and 4th in the AVCA) after beating UCLA (13th in this week’s poll) in four sets Friday and storming back from a 2-1 deficit to beat USC Saturday.  Tamari Miyashiro had a season-high 30 digs in the latter game.  The other team strutting its stuff this weekend is Oregon, which held home floor in a sweep of Cal Friday and then a gutsy five-set victory over Stanford Saturday night.  The Ducks’ blanking of the Bears was the first time they defeated them 3-0 in 19 years.  And their victory over Stanford, where they had to come from behind down two sets to one, was their first over the Cardinal in 20 years and the first in Eugene in 23 years.  The big loser of the weekend?  The Women Of Troy, who were embarrassed by Washington St. on Friday night 3-0 (their first loss to the Cougars in almost five years) before heading west and letting one slip away to Washington.  As a result, USC slips two places to #18 in this week’s poll.  By the way, Stanford slides a spot to sixth, and Cal loses a place down to #15.
• The four ranked Big 10 teams paired off with one another over the weekend.  Penn St. remains on top of the AVCA poll (as they have for 32 straight polls, a record for the AVCA), but they were down 2-1 to Michigan before coming back to win a hard-fought five-set match at Ann Arbor Friday.  That same night, Illinois swept visiting Minnesota in their first game at Assembly Hall, the basketball arena, for the first time since 1981.  This, like many volleyball matches played Friday night, were tied into Midnight Madness festivities, and Illinois announced hopes that they’d be able to break the NCAA record for highest attendance for a regular season game.  They weren’t close — the record’s 13,780, they only got 7,632, which is a school record — but the crowd was enough to destroy the Gophers.  They and the Illini switched spots among Big 10 teams in the AVCA — Illinois moves up two spots to eighth while Minnesota falls three places to ninth — and Illinois now takes over second place in the conference.  And the lowest-ranked conference team remains Michigan, which remains at eleventh this week.
• There was also a huge match in the Big West Friday, when UC Irvine defeated visiting Long Beach St. in five sets.  That victory puts the Anteaters in sole possession of first place and sparked a two-position rise in the AVCA to #19.  That also pushed the previous-#25 49ers, which staved off four set points before winning the first set 29-27, out of the Top 25.  They were replaced by Colorado St., winners of 12 in a row, in that 25th spot.
• Finally, just when it looked like Kentucky (7) was going to wrest control of the SEC away from Florida for good, they inexplicably lay an egg at home and lose for the first time in conference play to Tennessee Wednesday night.  This is the second straight year the Lady Vols have marched into the Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Ky. and left with a win.  Wildcat Libero BriAnne Sauer’s career-high 30 digs couldn’t prevent her team from losing the match in four sets.  They still lead the SEC East over Florida by one game, but their loss means that Washington is now the only team in the nation that has lost just once … not counting the fact that Penn St. and Texas (still #2 in the AVCA) are both still undefeated.

Finally, the Top 5 in the latest RPI: Texas, Florida St., Penn St., Illinois, and Washington.

Week 7 Preview; Weekend

I will be using this one long post to preview the important games of the weekend ’cause I have important stuff to do this weekend, and I don’t think I’ll be able to post between tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon.

I start again with the Pac-10.  They once again are the center of the women’s college volleyball universe this year, placing seven teams in the AVCA Top 25 poll this week.  So it’s inevitable that there will be a matchup of ranked teams every weekend.  This time around the loci are in Seattle and Eugene:

• Fourth-ranked Washington, which got dinged with their first loss this season at Stanford, will host the SoCal schools this weekend.  Their match Friday against #12 UCLA will begin at 6 CDT instead of 7 because it will kick off the Huskies’ Midnight Madness program, which will mark the official start of practice for the men’s basketball team, which is supposed to be real good this year (track the game here).  Saturday’s match against #16 USC will start at 7 (track here).
• Meanwhile, Oregon, ranked 15th despite being 2-3 so far in the tough, tough Pac-10, try to get on the right side of .500 with games against #14 Cal on Friday and #5 Stanford on Saturday.  First serve is at 7.  (Oregon apparently is one of the few schools I’ve come across that doesn’t allow you to track games for free.  Hiss.)

The Big 10 is third among conferences with four teams in the Top 25.  Thankfully, all four teams square off against each other Friday night:

• Michigan’s Keen Arena will be sold out as the 11th-ranked Wolverines, losers of two out of their last three, take on top-ranked Penn St.  It’ll be the third time the Lady Lions will be greeted with no empty seats when travelling to Ann Arbor.  I’ve never heard of such a thing before, a sold-out volleyball match.  Ain’t it great?  Anyway, the game starts at 6, and you can watch it — for free! — here.
• Meanwhile in Champaign, Ill. that same night, tenth-ranked Illinois will host #6 Minnesota — not at their usual digs of Huff Hall, but at Assembly Hall, where the basketball teams play.  This is also an undercard to the “Illini Madness” festivities, when the men’s b-ball team will go through their orchestrated, half-ass practicing for the fans.  The volleyball team is using this to foster a “Spike The Record” initiative, where they’re going to try and set the record for highest attendance ever for a regular season game.  Not at Illinois — ever.  The record, by the way, is 13,870, which was set back on Sep. 13 in Lincoln, Neb. as the Huskers lost a five-set decision to UCLA.  The game here begins at 6:30.  Track the game here.

One other game, which won’t be a good match but will be a milestone.  Hawai’i Coach Dave Shoji should be able to pick up his 1,000th win in his career as the third-ranked Rainbow Wahine hosts New Mexico St. at the Sheriff Center.  Game time is at midnight CDT.  Hope the champagne is on ice and the locker room is plasticked over.  You’ll be able to listen here.

I’ve got to relay the results of the two big Big 12 contests Wednesday.  Nebraska (#3) had no trouble at Baylor (#17), 26-17-17.  Like the Gophers’ eventual sweep by the Lady Lions, it seems as if the Bears wanted to take it to ‘em early, and when the Huskers were able to withstand their effort, they just ran out of gas.  Upstart Texas A&M (#22) proved to have a bit more endurance, but they too were swept by Iowa St. (#13) at Ames, 24-21-24.  The Cyclones won despite being outdug by the Aggies, 47-45.

One final thing to point out: the NCAA has just released their first RPI report.  This is one of those things that, like they say about  each year’s basketball tournaments, is just one factor contributing to the selection and seeding of the teams that make it to the postseason.  Second-ranked Texas, who has played a tougher schedule than top-ranked Penn St. so far, is #1 in the RPI.  The Lady Lions are third.  Who’s #2?  Florida St., of all people.  Other teams’ positions that are pointed out to elicit outsize reactions, although everyone knows this in the end isn’t a big deal: Michigan St. is #14, Notre Dame is #16, Florida International is #18, Tennessee is #20, Colorado St. is #22, Ohio is #24, and Hawai’i is all the way down at #25, even though they’re ranked third in the AVCA.

Week 7 Preview; Midweek — Big 12 Showdowns, And Shoji Goes For Win 1,000

Two games of interest tonight:

• Nebraska, ranked seventh in this week’s AVCA poll, visit Waco to take on #19 Baylor, at 7 CDT.  Although the Huskers are ranked higher, the Bears technically lead them by a half-game in the Big 12 standings, though they both trail undefeated Texas (who visit Kansas tonight as well).  I think you can listen to game for free here.
• The only other meeting between ranked teams tonight is also in the Big 12 and also features a team tied for second place welcoming a team tied for fourth.  Thirteenth-ranked Iowa St. gets set to host #22 Texas A&M.  This game begins at 6:30 CDT.  You may be able to track statistics of the game here, although I tried to log onto it right now, half a day before it’s supposed to start, and it appears to be broken.

There should be a third game tonight, but the match between Louisiana Tech and third-ranked Hawai’i was postponed till Monday because severe weather prevented the Lady Techsters for leaving the mainland in time.  Which means Rainbow Wahine Head Coach Dave Shoji will have to wait until this weekend to notch his 1,000th win in his career.

Week 6 Wrap-Up; Shake-Ups At The Top

I was all ready to assume that the top teams in women’s college volleyball would get through the weekend unscathed.  I had planned to anoint this year as The Year Of The Big Four — Penn St., Texas, Washington, and Hawai’i, with everybody else playing for the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight positions.  But after some upsets this past weekend, there is some unlikely but welcome churning in this week’s AVCA poll, which you can view here.  A breakdown:

• The Game and Upset Of The Week may be Stanford’s tough five-set victory over previously undefeated Washington in Palo Alto.  The Huskies hadn’t even dropped a set this year, so it took a mighty effort from the four-times-beaten Cardinal to inflict the first loss on U-Dub.  Janet Okogbaa set a career high with 21 kills for Stanford, while on the other side Bianca Rowland set her own career high with 16 kills.  If there is one stat that mattered more in this upset, it was service errors — Stanford committed only four while Washington erred 17 times.  That pulls The Farm a half-game behind the Huskies for the Pac-10 race, and it pulls Stanford (rising two spots to #5) one place behind Washington (which switched places with Hawai’i and is now fourth).
• An even bigger shake-up might be happening in the SEC.  Leaders from the start Florida were humbled at previously-unranked LSU in a Sunday night match broadcast on ESPNU, 26-20-22.  Streaks were broken in this game; the Tigers beat Florida for the first time in 27 showdowns, a domination that started in the ’91 season, and the Gators had not been swept in a conference match in almost 19 years.  This looked like Florida’s conference to lose, yet they’ve lost it … to Kentucky.  The Wildcats have won seven straight, and because that includes a victory over Florida in Gainesville, they supplant the Gators in the AVCA; Kentucky is tenth (up two spots) while Florida is now eleventh (down three).  In case you were wondering, the rematch in Lexington is Sunday, November 22, at 1 CDT.  Meanwhile, LSU, riding a six-game winning streak, enters the AVCA poll for the first time this year at #24.  (By the way, I neglected to inform y’all that Kentucky Head Coach Craig Skinner won his 100th game with Friday’s sweep of Auburn, so congratulations to him.)
• Also, congrats to another Head Coach marking a milestone: Rich Feller, whose Cal team on Saturday night swept then-25th-ranked Washington St., 14-19-20, in Berkeley.  This marks Feller’s 200th victory leading the Bears; he previously was the head man at Colorado St. for 14 years.  Cal probably has embarked on the toughest schedule so far this season; although they’re 9-6 overall and a somewhat surprising 2-3 in the Pac-10, they rise one spot to #14.  (With the loss, the Cougars drop out of the Top 25.  Despite the loss of Wazzu, the Pac-10 still lead all conferences with seven teams in the AVCA poll.)  Cal’s next win will be Feller’s 500th for his career, and he’ll likely get it this weekend, either at Oregon Friday night or at Oregon St. (whose Head Coach, Taras Liskevych, was Feller’s superior from 1980 to 1983 at Pacific) Saturday night.
• Speaking of Oregon, they were beaten at Arizona in four sets, despite a career-high 26 kill shots by Outside Hitter Sonja Newcombe.  The Wildcats tie conference rival UCLA for Fastest Riser Of The Week at four spots (going from #22 to #18); Oregon is down four spots to 15.
• The Freefallers Of The Week (Still In The Poll Division): Long Beach St. out of the Big West, which hangs onto the last spot in the Top 25 after being 20th last week by virtue of a four-set loss at Pacific.  If you include teams that fell out of the poll, however, that dubious distinction belongs to Michigan St., which went from 18th to Receiving Votes after suffering a terrible weekend of back-to-back sweeps at unranked Wisconsin and Iowa.  All this after running through their out-of-conference schedule a perfect 12-0 (even though opponents included Albany and Presbyterian).
• Which conference has the most teams in the AVCA after the Pac-10?  After losing the Spartans, it’s not the Big 10, which now has four (though, oddly enough, the lowest is at #11).  It’s the Big 12, which has five, the last and newest of which is Texas A&M.  They enter the poll for the first time this year at #22 after upsetting Baylor in Waco in four sets Saturday night.  Aggie Tori Mellinger had a career-high 24 digs, while Ashlie Christenson had a career-high 20 kills for the Bears, who played in front of a record crowd of 3,022.  Baylor failed to close out the second set four times before coughing it up, 31-29.
• Top-ranked Penn St. keeps on rolling, standing tall against a furious initial attack from Minnesota before putting the Gophers away in Minneapolis, 24-21-14.  Their all-time record winning streak now stands at 82 games.
• Second-ranked Texas also keeps rolling right behind the Lady Lions.  After being laid off for eight days, they swept Oklahoma Saturday afternoon, also after repelling an early barrage, 25-24-15.  Guess this version of the Red River Shootout isn’t so competitive.

Week 6 Preview; Sunday

Sorry that I don’t have the recaps for the big Pac-10 games from last night; I was at a concert last night.  But before it starts in nine minutes, I want to inform you about possible the Game Of The Day and probably Of The Weekend: #1 Penn St. goes to Minneapolis and plays #5 Minnesota.  Again, it starts 1 Central Daylight Time.  I’m shocked and even frustrated that a game this big doesn’t seem to have any online presence that I can see (you can actually see the match, but you’ll have to pay, and for now I’m not going to give that information).  You might be able to see that here, but you might also be tracking the Eastern Michigan-Western Michigan game.  If that doesn’t work, links to possible venues to see or track the game are on the Gophers schedule.

Week 6 Preview; Saturday

First the results from Friday’s most important games:

• Washington (#3 in the AVCA poll) beat Cal (15) at Cal, 16-22-23, keeping the Huskies a perfect 15-0 and running their consecutive sets won streak to a perfect 45.  The Bears have now lost three in a row in conference play.
• Meanwhile, Stanford (7) dispatched visiting Washington St. (25) in four sets to improve to 10-4 overall.
• And in Westwood, UCLA (16) swept cross-town rival USC (13), 25-20-22.
• And in a mild upset, Michigan St. (18) got swept at Wisconsin, 16-25-27.

The important games for Saturday are, again, in the Pac-10:

• The Game Of The Day probably is Washington at Stanford; the Cardinal have won the last three meetings between the teams.  Match starts at 9 CDT (track the game here)
• Cal hosts Washington St., also at 9 CDT (you can track the game here, but you can also watch the game here, though you’ll have to register).  Did you know that the Bears have a 12-match winning against the Cougars?
• And the only ranked teams in the Beaver and Grand Canyon states meet up in Tucson as Oregon (11) visits Arizona (22).  Take a guess at what time this starts, remembering that because the state of Arizona does not recognize Daylight Saving Time, the time matches that of the states on the West Coast (track here; register and watch for free here)