Wisconsin did everything right in their schedule this week, winning both ranked matchups on their schedule. In fact, they've won four straight ranked matches and are 6-0 in their last six. The Badgers are cruising, and yet the AVCA Top 25 Volleyball Poll dropped them a spot in the rankings for Week 6.
The Badgers went from No. 6 to No. 7 overnight, and the justification for it is logical but still unfair to Wisconsin. What happened? Well, the Florida Gators beat the Kentucky Wildcats in a wild 5-setter on Sunday, and that caused the AVCA to really think long and hard about what to do with the Gators.
Florida was ranked No. 7 last week, while the Wildcats were ranked No. 3. The AVCA coaches felt like the Gators needed to be rewarded for knocking off Kentucky (a feat the Badgers were unable to do). This catapulted them over the Badgers and moved Florida to No. 5. This vaulted them over the Badgers and moved Florida to No. 5, dropping Kentucky to No. 4, and that alone may show you the madness of the poll.
There are really two major problems with what happened in the rankings this week, and both, in one way or another, have to do with the Badgers. First, we may need to acknowledge that this is a poll, so the positioning is determined by how many votes each receives. The logic may not always work out, but you would hope that it would.
Week 6 @AVCAVolleyball / Taraflex Dl Women's Volleyball Top 25 🏐 #NCAAWVB pic.twitter.com/DO4K4Em3zM
— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) October 5, 2026
1. Kentucky being higher than Florida after losing a head-to-head
It bothers me immensely when you have a recent head-to-head matchup, and the rankings don't recognize it. Kentucky being one spot ahead of Florida is wild. The two literally just played yesterday, and somehow the poll says, "Nah, Florida is still the worse team." That's crazy stuff.
Kentucky deserved to be dropped, and Florida deserved to climb, but to not find a way to get Florida ahead of Kentucky, when the Gators literally just beat them, is crazy.
The counterargument is that Kentucky still has a better resume, even beating Wisconsin while Florida was unable to do so. That's a case for keeping Kentucky higher, but it's hard to stomach when you know the two teams just played head-to-head recently.
2. Wisconsin being dropped after winning against all ranked opponents is silly
Of course, the main point of this article is the above point. Yet, Wisconsin also has a head-to-head win over Florida. So, there's that too. Wisconsin hasn't lost since Texas and has been cruising over their opponents, all of them being ranked, and yet they get downgraded.
If a team should be downgraded to vault Florida, it should have been SMU. Not that they haven't also taken care of business, but it hasn't been against ranked opponents. The Mustangs are cruising in the ACC, but their last week's matches were not against top competition; thus, if someone has to be dropped, it's them, not Wisconsin.
That still brings up the problem of Wisconsin having a head-to-head over Florida... but whatever. At the end of the day, the top-10 is a bit of a mess, and it's hard for the coaches to submit their polls when you have to weigh all of this and more. But I will stand on the mountain and shout that Wisconsin shouldn't be dropped.
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