BATON ROUGE — After starting the season at 8-1, the LSU volleyball team moved up to No. 18 in the AVCA/CSTV Coaches poll and entered the Volleyball Magazine poll at No. 18, it was announced on Tuesday.
With wins over then-No. 22 Minnesota and Texas A&M and Dayton, which are receiving votes in the poll, the Tigers have matched their 2005 mark with the best start to a season since 1991. 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 AVCA/CSTV poll, with LSU coming in at No. 30 among the preseason vote getters. The Tigers then moved to No. 22 last week in the first regular season poll.
LSU was ranked for one week last season, coming in at No. 24 on Sept. 26 after starting the season at 12-1. The last time the Tigers were ranked as high as No. 18, LSU came in at No. 15 on Sept. 6, 1993. This marks the first ranking of the season for the Tigers in the Volleyball Magazine poll.
LSU will remain on the road this weekend as the Tiger open Southeastern Conference play. LSU will open the league schedule at No. 13 Tennessee on Friday at 6 p.m. (CT), before facing Kentucky on Sunday at 1 p.m. (CT). The match against the Wildcats will be televised live on SEC-TV in Baton Rouge on Fox Sports Southwest (cable channel 38).
CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll
Rank School (First-Place Votes) Total Points 2006 Record Last Week
1 Nebraska (47) 1486 7-0 1
2 Penn State (12) 1423 8-0 2
3 UCLA (1) 1358 9-0 3
4 Washington 1235 8-1 5
5 Texas 1196 5-2 7
6 Florida 1184 6-1 6
7 Stanford 1101 6-1 8
8 Santa Clara 1100 6-1 4
9 Southern California 1032 9-0 10
10 California 870 9-0 13
11 Wisconsin 867 6-1 11
12 Hawai’i 836 5-3 9
13 Tennessee 778 8-1 12
14 Purdue 761 9-0 14
15 Ohio State 524 8-0 19
16 Ohio 523 6-2 17
17 Missouri 484 6-3 15
18 LSU 424 8-1 22
19 BYU 413 7-1 16
20 Pepperdine 339 4-4 18
21 Utah 265 6-2 24
22 Michigan 239 10-0 NR
23 Cal Poly 162 6-3 25
T-24 Arizona 98 7-2 21
T-24 Kansas State 98 8-2 NR
Others Receiving Votes and appearing on two or more ballots: Long Beach State 89; Louisville 84; New Mexico State 81; Texas A&M 73; Dayton 28; San Francisco 24; San Diego 19; Minnesota 16; Duke 13; Notre Dame 10; Arkansas 8; Kansas 5; Northern Iowa 5; Maryland 4; Rice 4.
Molten/Volleyball Women’s College Top 20
Rank Team Record Last Week
1 Nebraska 7-0 1
2 Penn State 8-0 2
3 UCLA 9-0 5
4 Stanford 6-1 4
5 Washington 8-1 3
6 Florida 6-1 7
7 Texas 5-2 8
8 Santa Clara 6-1 6
9 USC 9-0 11
10 Cal 9-0 12
11 Hawaii 5-3 9
12 Wisconsin 6-1 10
13 Tennessee 8-1 13
14 Purdue 9-0 14
15 Ohio State 8-0 16
16 BYU 7-1 17
17 Missouri 6-3 15
18 LSU 8-1 NR
19 Pepperdine 4-4 19
20 Ohio 6-2 NR