Courtesy of the Omaha World Herald
Nebraska volleyball tied for No. 5 in the AVCA preseason poll, while Creighton claimed the No. 18 spot on Tuesday.
The Huskers tied with Pittsburgh in the rankings and were the second highest ranked team in the Big Ten with Wisconsin coming in at No. 2.
Texas claimed the No. 1 spot, and Stanford and Louisville were No. 3 and 4 respectively.
With six ranked teams, the Big Ten led all conferences in the poll. Those teams are No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 5 Nebraska, No. 7 Minnesota, No. 8 Penn State, No. 14 Ohio State, No. 16 Purdue. Two future Big Ten members also made the top 25: No. 9 Oregon and No. 22 USC.
This offseason, the Huskers added the No. 1 recruiting class (per PrepVolleyball.com), which includes outside hitter Harper Murray, setter Bergen Reilly, libero Laney Choboy, opposite hitter Caroline Jurevicius and middle blocker Andi Jackson.
After finishing last season at No. 21, Creighton was ranked No. 18 in the preseason poll.
This is the ninth time in 11 season that the Bluejays have been ranked in the preseason poll, and the 12th straight they have made the top 25 for at least one week.
CU’s season ended last year when the Jays fell to Auburn in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Creighton is aiming for its 10th straight Big East regular-season title and to repeat as conference tournament champions. The Jays have won eight of the last nine Big East tournaments.
Creighton is one of two Big East teams in the preseason rankings with Marquette coming in at No 12.
The Jays will take on Northern Colorado in an exhibition match on Saturday before opening their season on Aug. 25 against Loyola Chicago.
