A Monday of confirmations for No. 1 Nebraska, plus one new wrinkle for Thursday night.
Still unanimous
Nebraska holds No. 1 in the AVCA-Taraflex Division I poll released Monday with all 63 first-place votes and 1,575 points. The top six did not move: Pittsburgh is second, then Louisville, Florida, SMU and Kentucky, per the AVCA.
Nine Big Ten teams are ranked: Nebraska, No. 9 Wisconsin, No. 10 Penn State, No. 12 Oregon, No. 13 Purdue, No. 18 Washington, No. 19 Minnesota, No. 22 Indiana and No. 25 Illinois.
Reilly, again
Bergen Reilly is the Big Ten Setter of the Week for the second week in a row. It is her fourth of the season and the 17th weekly award of her career, which Nebraska Athletics says is tied for second all-time in the conference.
The week behind it: Reilly set Nebraska to an NCAA-leading .448 hitting percentage across sweeps at No. 12 Oregon and No. 18 Washington. Nebraska Athletics says that was 18 points better than the next-best team in the country, and the Huskers also led the nation at 17.00 kills per set. Reilly averaged 13.33 assists per set, fourth nationally.
- At Oregon: 43 assists, 11 digs, three kills and a block for her 49th career double-double. Nebraska hit .425.
- At Washington: 37 assists, eight digs, four kills and two blocks. Nebraska hit .477, its best mark against a ranked opponent in the rally-scoring era.
The rest of the Big Ten’s weekly list: Penn State’s Kennedy Martin was Player of the Week for the third straight week, and Purdue swept the other two with Ryan McAleer on defense and Addy Tindall as Freshman of the Week. Counting Reilly, Nebraska players have won 12 Big Ten weekly awards this season, per the conference’s list.
Illinois comes in ranked
That new wrinkle: Illinois moved into the AVCA poll at No. 25 this week after receiving votes last week. The Illini (17-8) are Nebraska’s next opponent, Thursday, Nov. 12, at 6 p.m. CT at John Cook Arena. Nebraska (25-0, 14-0 Big Ten) has clinched a share of the conference title. A win Thursday makes it outright.
Featured image: Photo: Michael Barera. CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wisconsin_vs._Marquette_women’s_volleyball_2023_19_(in-match_action).jpg.
