Oct. 31, 2005
Following wins in two of its stiffest conference tests – including an upset of sixth-ranked Louisville – the University of Notre Dame women’s volleyball team made history once again, rising two spots to #5 in the latest edition of the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Poll, released on Monday by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. It is the highest ranking for the Irish in the history of the AVCA poll. Notre Dame, which will try to open the season 21-1 for the first time ever at home on Wednesday at 7 p.m. (EST) against Saint Louis, became the first squad ever to crack the national top five in the poll after beginning the season unranked.
Notre Dame began the season as the second team receiving votes outside of the AVCA top 25. An upset of #11 Texas on Sept. 3 propelled the Irish to 19th, and wins over #8 USC and #6 Florida the following week saw ND move up to eighth. The lone Notre Dame defeat of the season – a five-game affair (20-18 in the fifth) with LSU on Sept. 18 – dropped the Irish back down to 11th, but they have edged upwards since then. Last week, Notre Dame was seventh, which matched the then-highest ranking in program history, first accomplished on Sept. 19, 1995. This week’s listing also is the best ever by a BIG EAST Conference school in the AVCA rankings.
Since the AVCA poll debuted, no squad unranked in the first offering of the season had ever ascended into the top five at any point in that same campaign. In 2002, Minnesota was unranked to begin the year but then peaked at sixth on four different weeks. Last season, Ohio State began outside the top 25, but then finished at #6. Those two rises had been unparalleled until the Irish this year.
Notre Dame also moved up two spots to a season-high sixth in the Molten/Volleyball magazine poll on Monday. That is still one shy of the highest ranking ever for the Irish in that poll, which was fifth on Sept. 18, 1995.
The Irish – ranked in the top 10 for the 15th time in program history – benefited this week from Tennessee’s five-game upset of #4 Florida, which allowed Notre Dame to pass the Gators in the AVCA poll. Florida is fifth in the Volleyball magazine listing, one ahead of the Irish, even though ND beat the Gators in three games – UF’s first three-game defeat in two years – on Sept. 11.
Nebraska (21-0, 12-0 Big 12, 57 first-place votes) and Washington (20-0, 11-0 Pac-10, three first-place votes) continued to occupy the top two spots, as they have in every AVCA poll this season. Penn State (21-2, 12-0 Big Ten, losses to Nebraska and Stanford) remained third, while defending NCAA champ Stanford (20-3, 9-2 Pac-10, losses to Nebraska, Washington, and #8 Arizona) slid up a spot to fourth. Those four teams have been listed among the top five all season, while Notre Dame is the third other school to join them among that group, following Hawai’i (fourth in preseason, currently ninth), Minnesota (fifth for three weeks in September, currently 17th), and Florida (in the top five in the last five polls before dropping to sixth).
The Cornhuskers will try to continue their perfect season this week, taking on Oklahoma (6-16, 1-12 Big 12, lost 3-0 to ND on Sept. 10) at home on Wednesday and then traveling to Iowa State (13-11, 6-7 Big 12) on Saturday. The Huskies have a challenging week ahead, as they will face #5 Stanford (20-3, 9-2 Pac-10) on Thursday and #15 California (14-6, 7-4 Pac-10) on Friday, both at home. Penn State will face #19 Ohio State (15-6, 8-4 Big Ten) on Wednesday at home and then play at Indiana (9-15, 2-10 Big Ten) on Friday. The Cardinal will be at #2 Washington on Thursday and at Washington State (8-16, 1-0 Pac-10) on Friday.
Rounding out the top 10 behind Notre Dame is Florida (21-2), Louisville (21-1), Arizona (16-4), Hawai’i (17-4), and Wisconsin (17-4). The Cardinals and Irish have combined to make this season the first in which multiple BIG EAST teams have been ranked at the same time, let alone in the top 10.
Notre Dame is one of just six teams to have four or more victories against current members of the AVCA top 25, having gone 4-0 against #6 Florida, #7 Louisville, #14 Texas, and #16 USC. Nebraska and Washington are both 8-0 vs. the current poll, while Penn State is 8-2, Wisconsin is 5-3, and Stanford is 4-3.
The Irish became the 31st school ever to break into the AVCA top five. That group includes only 10 schools located east of the Mississippi River. Notre Dame has now joined the elite group of Florida, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, and Wisconsin.
Since being ranked for the first time in the preseason of 1992, the Irish have been listed in the AVCA top 25 at some point in every season except for one (1999). In all, Notre Dame has been ranked in 129 of the 208 polls since then (62%). Only 20 schools have been ranked on more occasions than the Irish since the AVCA rankings debuted in 1982, and just 16 have been in more polls since the commencement of the 1992 campaign.
Volleyball is the 13th Notre Dame sport (out of 22 that have national rankings) to have been ranked among the national top five over the past four calendar years. The others are men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s fencing, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s soccer, football, and baseball.
Four Irish teams are currently ranked among the national top 10: women’s cross country (4th), men’s cross country (5th), women’s soccer (5th), volleyball (5th), and football (8th).
Notre Dame’s women’s teams have been outstanding this fall, as all three – cross country, soccer, and volleyball – are ranked among the national top five. The two team sports have combined for a 37-3 record. Volleyball has won 13 straight (39-4 in games during the streak) and soccer is on an eight-game winning streak (38-1 scoring edge). Cross country won the BIG EAST Conference title last week with the lowest team score since 1994 and also took second at the Pre-National Meet.
Voting by 60 Division I head coaches – including Notre Dame’s Debbie Brown – determines the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25.