Nebraska Volleyball tied for No. 5 in AVCA Preseason Poll

The Nebraska Volleyball team was tied for No. 5 overall in the AVCA Preseason Coaches Poll Tuesday afternoon alongside Pittsburgh.

It marks the second time in the last three seasons that the Huskers have been tabbed No. 5 entering a season with NU picked No. 5 in the preseason poll before the 2020-2021 spring season. Coming off a year that saw the Huskers fail to reach the Elite Eight for the first time in nearly a decade, Nebraska aims to get back to the Final Four despite welcoming in six newcomers to the roster.

The 2023 No. 1 ranked recruiting class headlines the newbies as five freshman come into Lincoln and are poised to have big roles for head coach John Cook. Nebraska will also break in a new setter as they transition back to a traditional 5-1 offense.

The Huskers' 2023 campaign begins with the annual Red-White Scrimmage on August 19 followed by the Ameritas Players Challenge from August 25-27 that sees NU play Utah State, Lipscomb and SMU across the three-day competition.

Texas — the defending national champions — was selected No. 1 followed by Wisconsin, Stanford and Louisville to round out the top five. Minnesota, Penn State, Oregon and Kentucky made up the rest of the top ten.

The Big Ten conference owns four of the top-ten teams and six of the top 25. When conference realignment begins in 2024, Oregon (No. 9) and USC (No. 22) would join that list to make eight of the top 25.

Match dates with top-25 battles

Sept. 6: Creighton

Sept. 12: at Stanford

Sept. 17: Kentucky

Sept. 22: Ohio State

Sept. 24: Minnesota

Sept. 29: at Purdue

Oct. 14: Penn State

Oct. 21: Wisconsin

Nov. 3: at Penn State

Nov. 24: at Wisconsin

Nov. 25: at Minnesota

Top 25

1: Texas (44)

2: Wisconsin (6)

3: Stanford (13)

4: Louisville

T-5: Nebraska

T-5: Pittsburgh

7: Minnesota

8: Penn State

9: Oregon

10: Kentucky

11: Florida

12: Marquette

13: San Diego

14: Ohio State

15: Baylor

16: Purdue

17: BYU

18: Creighton

19: Houston

20: Georgia Tech

21: Washington State

22: USC

23: Rice

24: Western Kentucky

25: Arkansas