Lincoln ? The University of Nebraska volleyball team finished third in the final Bison/AVCA Coaches poll released Tuesday. NU finished with 1,377 points in voting by the 60 coaches in the poll, finishing only behind Penn State (1,500) and Stanford (1,430).
The Huskers, who were picked seventh in the preseason poll, climbed from fourth to third in the final ranking following their five-set win over No. 5 Washington in the regional final and the national semifinal loss to No. 1 Penn State. The Huskers were the only team to take a set from the national champion Nittany Lions and went a combined 3-2 against the other top-five teams in the poll.
The Huskers have not finished in the top five of the final AVCA poll in each of the past five years and reached the national semifinals five times in John Cook’s nine seasons, including three of the last four years.
The 2008 senior class of Amanda Gates, Jordan Larson and Rachel Schwartz finished their career with a 127-8 record, four Big 12 titles and two trips to the national championship match.
The Huskers return four starters from this year’s national semifinalist squad, including All-Americans Sydney Anderson and Tara Mueller and All-region selection Kori Cooper.
Bison/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll 2008 Final Poll: December 23, 2008<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
Rank
School (First-Place Votes)
Total Points
2008 Record
Last Week
1
<?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Penn State (60)
1500
38-0
1
2
Stanford
1430
31-4
2
3
Nebraska
1377
31-3
4
4
Texas
1333
29-4
3
5
Washington
1257
27-5
5
6
California
1177
26-7
8
7
Hawai’i
1152
31-4
6
8
UCLA
1036
22-11
9
9
Oregon
972
25-9
7
10
Florida
927
27-4
11
11
Illinois
822
26-8
14
12
Iowa State
777
22-13
NR
13
Southern California
702
17-12
12
14
Minnesota
674
27-7
10
15
Purdue
651
26-9
17
16
Utah
599
26-6
18
17
Michigan
573
26-9
19
18
Wichita State
514
30-2
13
19
San Diego
422
23-5
15
20
Kansas State
351
24-8
16
21
Saint Louis
313
29-5
21
22
Kentucky
218
26-6
20
23
Long Beach State
188
26-6
24
24
Colorado State
164
23-7
22
25
Santa Clara
101
18-10
NR
Others Receiving Votes and appearing on two or more ballots: Western Michigan 67; New Mexico State 66; Pepperdine 43; Tulane 23; Middle Tennessee 15; UAB 12; Cincinnati 9; San Francisco 8; Texas A&M 8; Duke 7; Clemson 5; Western Kentucky 2