After an exciting first week of conference play filled with top-ranked showdowns, it's time to update my Power 10 rankings:
1. Pittsburgh (Prev. 1)
After the first week of conference play, Pitt remains unbeaten and on top. The Panthers have now won 33 straight sets and seem almost unstoppable. It's worth noting that they didn't achieve this by playing against easy opponents; they swept Georgia Tech while hitting .493 in the match.
2. Nebraska (Prev. 2)
Nebraska remains at No. 2 with victories over UCLA and USC at home. Once again, they displayed great offensive balance, whether it was a player off the bench or a typical starter.
3. Penn State (Prev. 4)
Some movement in the top 5, Penn State moves up a spot to No. 3. The team looked really good in their sweep over Purdue, with great passing and balanced offense. Izzy Starck found Camryn Hannah for 14 kills.
4. Louisville (Prev. 5)
Louisville rises to No. 4 in the rankings after a strong performance this week, securing a sweep over Stanford. The Cardinals dominated in the first set, holding Stanford to under .100 hitting, and maintained that momentum throughout the game. Charite Luper delivered an impressive performance with 18 kills in the match.
TOP-5 SWEEP: How Louisville toppled Stanford
5. Stanford (Prev. 3)
Stanford drops to 5 with the loss to Louisville.
6 & 7. Creighton (Prev. 6) and Kansas (Prev. 7)
Creighton and Kansas stay put at No. 6 and 7, picking up two wins a piece.
SCOREBOARD: Live scores and stats for every match
8. Texas (Prev. 8)
With their first two SEC wins over Texas A&M and LSU, the Longhorns remain at the 8th spot. Madi Skinner and Reagan Rutherford had strong performances. Both players had 11 kills in the first win, while Skinner led again with 10 kills against the Tigers.
9. Oregon (Prev. NR)
At the bottom, there are a few changes. Welcome, Oregon, to the Power 10. The team has started the season 10-1, with their only loss being to No. 1 Pitt. Although there haven't been many ranked matchups yet, we will see more of that this week as they take on OSU and then Penn State for a top-10 matchup. Mimi Colyer looks good, with 17 hitting .318 in their last win.
10. Purdue (Prev. 10)
Lastly, Purdue remains at No. 10. The Boilermakers were defeated by Penn State but managed to recover with a significant 5-set victory over Minnesota, securing their position in the top 10. The win over the Gophers was fueled by Raven Colvin's career-high 19 kills and Purdue's second-highest number of aces in program history, with 17 aces in the win. Colvin also contributed 7 aces in this remarkable performance.
