BATON ROUGE — After starting the season at 5-1, the LSU volleyball team vaulted into the top 25 in the AVCA/CSTV Coaches poll, coming in at No. 22 this week.
With wins over then-No. 22 Minnesota and Texas A&M, which is receiving votes in the poll, to claim the Billiken Invitational, the Tigers moved into the poll for the first time since falling out on Oct. 3, 2005. The only loss for LSU this season came at the hands of No. 2 Penn State in five games in the season-opening weekend.
The Tigers began the season receiving votes in the poll, with LSU coming in at No. 30 among the preseason vote getters. The Tigers were ranked for one week last season, coming in at No. 24 on Sept. 26 after starting the season at 12-1. The last time LSU was ranked as high as No. 22, the Tigers came in at No. 22 on Sept. 13, 1993.
This marks the second national ranking for Tigers under head coach Fran Flory, although she was an assistant on the 1991 team that also began 12-1 and advanced to the NCAA Final Four.
LSU will remain on the road this weekend. The Tigers travel to the Dayton Marriott Invitational. LSU will face host Dayton on Friday at 6 p.m. before taking on Indiana on Saturday at noon and closing out the tournament at 4 p.m. against Wake Forest.
CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll
Rank, School (First-Place Votes), Total Points
1, Nebraska (51), 1491
2, Penn State (8), 1434
3, UCLA (1), 1313
4, Santa Clara, 1289
5, Washington, 1264
6, Florida, 1160
7, Texas, 1108
8, Stanford, 1065
9, Hawai’i , 994
10, Southern California, 947
11, Wisconsin, 868
12, Tennessee, 766
13, California, 732
14, Purdue, 695
15, Missouri, 637
16, BYU, 535
17, Ohio, 494
18, Pepperdine, 391
19, Ohio State, 355
20, Louisville, 331
21, Arizona, 298
22, LSU, 240
23, Notre Dame, 208
24, Utah, 179
25, Cal Poly, 154
Others Receiving Votes and appearing on two or more ballots: Kansas State 124; San Diego 115; Michigan 83; Long Beach State 73; Texas A&M 44; Dayton 23; New Mexico State 22; Duke 19; Minnesota 14; San Francisco 9, Maryland 2.