The defending national champs in women’s volleyball lost not once, but twice within the past week. The State Farm Women’s College Volleyball Showcase in Pittsburgh was not kind to Penn State as it fell 3-1 to Arizona State and then 3-2 to TCU, results that shake up the hierarchy in the sport.
NCAA volleyball Power Rankings: Pitt rebounds, Penn State gets upset
Penn State, the reigning national champs, fell to Arizona State and TCU. Meanwhile, Nebraska survived Kentucky.
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Mitchell Northam is a Senior Writer for SB Nation, covering women’s college sports at Breakaway.
Against Arizona State, the Nittany Lions simply couldn’t stop junior opposite Noemie Glover, who registered a double-double with 22 kills and 10 blocks, both career highs. The Sun Devils stumbled in their second match at the showcase though, suffering a sweep at the hands of Pitt.
For TCU head coach Jason Williams, the win was massive, marking his first career victory over a top-five-ranked opponent. One Horned Frog who played a crucial role in the result was Sarah Sylvester, who notched a career-high nine kills on just 14 swings to go along with five blocks. It was a bounce-back win for the Horned Frogs after it fell to Pitt in the opening day of the showcase, 3-1.
It was a great pair of games for Pitt, which bounced back from losing to Nebraska and Florida during the opening weekend of the season. The Panthers pulled even to 2-2, in large part due to Olivia Babcock piling up 25 kills, seven blocks and three aces across the two victories over TCU and Arizona State.
There were upsets elsewhere too. Arkansas State beat No. 16 Missouri 3-2, marking the Red Wolves’ first-ever win over a ranked opponent.
No. 1 Nebraska was nearly upset by No. 7 Kentucky in Nashville, Tennessee, but the Cornhuskers pulled off the rare reverse sweep to win 3-2. It was the first time Nebraska had pulled that off against an AVCA top 10 ranked opponent since 2018, and the first time the Huskers had done it under a first-year head coach. Harper Murray was key in the comeback, notching 23 kills. The match proved to be a wildly entertaining one that drew 1.2 million viewers — making it the most-watched regular season match ever broadcast on ESPN networks.
Elsewhere in the top 25, Creighton narrowly beat Kansas 3-2, and Texas got off to an impressive start to the season, notching three wins over Creighton, Wisconsin and Rice by a combined score of 9-1. Texas A&M is now 4-0 after notching another ranked win over No. 21 Utah.
Here’s our updated Power Rankings:
Just missed: TCU, SMU, Creighton, Wisconsin, Oregon
10. Penn State
9. Arizona State
8. Louisville
7. Texas A&M
6. Kentucky
5. Pitt
4. Florida
3. Stanford
2. Texas
1. Nebraska
And here’s the games you need to watch:
- Kentucky at Penn State: Friday, 8 p.m. ET — FOX
- App State at Virginia: Saturday, 2 p.m. ET — ACC Network Extra
- Stanford at Texas: Sunday, 1 p.m. ET — ESPN
- Texas A&M at SMU: Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET — ESPN2
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