B1G Weekly Volleyball Report

TL;DR

• Wisconsin is the new national #1
• Minnesota looked great too...then Texas showed up last night.
• Indiana is worth keeping an eye on
• Nebraska is going to obliterate the attendance record tonight on BTN (7:00 CDT). The Huskers are going to roll over Nebraska-Omaha, but the game will be played in a sold-out Memorial Stadium, which will be really cool.

Take it away John Cook:

On TV This Week

• #1 Wisconsin @ #21 Arkansas (7:00, Wed, ESPN+; 7:00 Thurs., ESPNU)
• #25 Purdue @ #23 Kansas (Wed, 6:30, ESPN+)
• Indiana @ Long Beach State (Wed, 9:00 ESPN+)
• #11 Georgia Tech @ #12 Ohio State (Fri, 6:00, B1G+; Sat, 5:00 B1G+)
• #5 Minnesota @ #8 Florida (Sun, 11:00 a.m., ESPNU)
• #24 Tennessee @ #1 Wisconsin (Sun, 1:00, B1G+)

I know football season starts this week which means you might have to look harder to find these matches, but if you have B1G+, these are all pretty compelling.

Last Week

It was a very interesting opening weekend for NCAA volleyball. Much like the non-conference schedule in college hoops, upsets abound, but you might not want to read too much into them as there are months left to the regular season and 64 teams make the tournament.

The Good

• Wisconsin and Minnesota: Yes, they’re placed together as they combined to take 12 of 14 sets vs. then #15 Baylor and TCU. The Gophers spotted TCU the first set, the rolled off six straight, including a 25-11 set to close out Baylor on Saturday. Libero Kylie Murr was named B1G Defensive Player of the Week. (Last night, after getting run out of the gym by #7 Texas in the first set, the Gophers rallied to take the second, before succumbing in four. At point Texas was dominant. At points, Minnesota held their own. The 10-3 Texas advantage in aces was big.) The Badgers only lost set was after winning the first two vs. Baylor and as they were trying out new lineups. Sarah Franklin healthy and Devyn Robinson hit .487 for the weekend. Wisconsin rested Temi Thomas-Aliara vs. TCU and got the sweep anyway. Swiss army knife Julia Orzol was the libero vs. Baylor and an outside hitter vs. TCU. Impressive stuff.
• Nebraska won all 9 sets against overmatched competition. So too did Indiana, which is more notable. This week will tell us more about the Hoosiers as they take on Long Beach State (who just beat #1 Texas), UCLA, and Washington. None of those teams are ranked, but two are receiving votes, so Indiana could really give their profile a boost.
• Northwestern went 1-2, but their win was over a then-ranked San Diego squad. Probably going to be a long year in Evanston, so let’s give the Wildcats a shout out now!

The Less Good

Michigan went 1-2, (including getting swept by Western Michigan last night).

Purdue went 1-2. No shame in losing to Creighton, but getting swept at home isn’t great. Neither is losing to Loyola Chicago, even if they’re now receiving votes.

Penn State lost to now #8 Florida and now #11 Georgia Tech. Again, no shame here, but both were four set losses, and it seems clear that it might take a while for the talented PSU lineup to gel.

Poll Movement

With Texas’s loss, Wisconsin is your new #1. Nebraska is up to #4 (from #6). Minnesota moved from #7 to #5. Ohio State is also up two spots, to #12. PSU fell from #8 to #14. And Purdue tumbled from #16 to #25.