Nebraska’s women’s volleyball team was going to be tested early in the first year of Dani Busboom Kelly’s tenure as head coach. The Cornhuskers entered this season with a lot of hype, and fans would find out quickly if it was all deserved.
NCAA volleyball Power Rankings: Nebraska is living up to the hype while Pitt stumbles
Nebraska is off to a hot start, but Pitt suffered. Louisville and Wisconsin make their season debuts this weekend.
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Mitchell Northam is a Senior Writer for SB Nation, covering women’s college sports at Breakaway.
As we learned, it certainly was.
At the AVCA First Serve, Nebraska knocked off a pair of fellow top 10 ranked teams — Pitt and Stanford — with relative ease. The Huskers beat the Panthers in four sets, including a dominant 25-11 second set, and then swept Stanford with an overall score of 75-46.
Both of those contests were sellouts, and Nebraska’s game against Pitt on FOX shattered some viewership records. It drew an average audience of 771,000 people, making it the second-most watched regular season volleyball game ever on the network, and the most ever for a volleyball contest that wasn’t a lead-in to an NFL game.
Nebraska is due for another test this weekend in Nashville, Tennessee, when it faces another top 10 team — No. 7 Kentucky.
After losing to Nebraska, Pitt’s rough start to the season continued when it was upset by No. 16 Florida in five tightly contested sets. Reigning National Player of the Year Olivia Babcock continued to shine, notching the 1,000th kill of her career, but the Panthers struggled with passing and failed too often in setting up middle Bre Kelley.
Pitt’s schedule doesn’t get that much easier. The Panthers will face No. 25 TCU and No. 13 Arizona State at the State Farm Showcase in Pittsburgh.
Penn State will be there too, facing the same opponents. The Nittany Lions escaped opening weekend with a clean 2-0 start, sweeping Creighton and surviving Kansas in five sets.
Fans will also get their first look at Louisville this weekend under first-year head coach Dan Meske, as the Cardinals open at home with Auburn, Morehead State and St. John’s. Texas and Wisconsin will also take the court this weekend in the Opening Spike Classic in Madison.
Here’s our updated Power Rankings:
Just missed: Texas A&M, Creighton, Arizona State, Oregon, UCLA
10. Kentucky
9. SMU
8. Wisconsin
7. Pitt
6. Florida
5. Stanford
4. Texas
3. Louisville
2. Penn State
1. Nebraska
And here’s the games you need to watch:
- Wisconsin vs. Kansas: Friday, 7 p.m. ET — Big Ten Network
- Dayton vs. Washington State: Saturday: 3 p.m. ET — ESPN+
- Nebraska vs. Kentucky: Sunday, 12 p.m. ET — ABC
- Pitt vs. Arizona State: Monday, 7:30 p.m. ET — FS1
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