OMAHA, Neb. -- The Creighton Volleyball program is ranked No. 13 in the preseason Top 25 poll released this afternoon by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. It's the fifth time in the last six seasons that the Bluejays have earned a spot in the preseason poll, and second-best preseason ranking in program history.

The poll is led by Stanford, and also features defending national champion Nebraska, Texas, Minnesota and Kentucky in the top-five. The Cardinal earned 43-of-64 first-place votes overall.

For the sixth straight fall, Creighton's non-conference schedule features four or more teams that are ranked in the preseason poll, including No. 2 Nebraska, No. 5 Kentucky, No. 10 USC, No. 12 Illinois and No. 21 Iowa State. The Jays also play three matches against teams receiving votes, including Wichita State once and Marquette twice.

Including today's poll, Creighton has now spent 37 weeks in the top-25 of the rankings all-time, and its 23 straight weeks in the top-25 is the nation's 14th-longest active streak. Before today, Creighton's only better preseason ranking had been the No. 9 by last year's team. Creighton's best ranking in history in any poll was the No. 7 mark in the August 28, 2017 voting. Today's rank also marks the seventh straight season that Creighton has been ranked for at least one week.

Last year's Bluejay squad was ninth in the preseason poll, ended the regular-season as the No. 9 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, and finished the season with a 26-7 record. The Bluejays won its fourth straight BIG EAST regular-season title, and its fourth straight BIG EAST Championship was one of four tournaments the team won. Among last year's top wins were victories over No. 3 Washington, No. 7 Kansas and No. 13 Kentucky. Top returnees from last year's team include preseason all-BIG EAST selections Brittany Witt, Taryn Kloth and Jaali Winters.

Being ranked in the preseason poll is no guarantee of future success, however. In the previous 10 seasons, only 178-of-250 teams (71.2 percent) would be in both the preseason and postseason AVCA Top 25 polls. Since 2008, all but 25 teams (of 250) named in the preseason AVCA Top 25 poll would go on to reach the NCAA Tournament (90.0 percent).

The Bluejays opened their fall practice schedule on Wednesday morning and host the annual Blue-White Scrimmage on Saturday at 3:30 pm, before opening the regular-season on Aug. 24 with a match against No. 5 Kentucky at the Trojan Invitational in Los Angeles, Calif.

AVCA Division I Coaches 
Preseason Poll: August 8, 2018

Rank School (First-Place Votes) Total Points Adjusted 2017 Record 2017 Final Rank
1 Stanford (43) 1575 30-4 4
2 Nebraska (20) 1525  32-4 1
3 Texas 1389  27-3 5
4 Minnesota 1342  28-6 10
5 Kentucky 1260  29-4 6
6 Penn State 1227  33-2 3
7 Florida (1) 1208  30-2 2
8 BYU 1183  30-3 7
9 Wisconsin 1146  22-10 12
10 Southern California 1019  25-10 7
11 UCLA 850  21-11 14
12 Illinois 782  23-11 17
13 Creighton 651  26-7 16
14 San Diego 632  25-5 13
15 Colorado 609  24-10 19
16 Baylor 597  24-7 21
17 Washington 503  25-8 15
18 Oregon 443  18-12 RV
19 Utah 424  24-10 13
20 Pittsburgh 352  26-7 RV
21 Iowa State 284  22-7 25
22 Michigan State 250  24-9 8
23 Purdue 225  23-10 18
24 Cal Poly 209  27-3 22
25 Colorado State 174  29-4 24

Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Marquette 163; Michigan 153; Missouri 148; Wichita State 103; Louisville 88; Kansas 66; Western Kentucky 58; Washington State 47; Hawai'i 27; Florida State 17; LSU 13; Miami (FL) 8; Oregon State 6; Missouri State 4


 
Creighton Volleyball History in the Preseason AVCA Poll
Year Preseason Rank Final W-L Final AVCA Rank
2013 25th 23-9 Not Ranked
2014 23rd 25-9 Not Ranked
2016 18th 27-9 9th
2017 9th 26-7 16th
2018 13th TBD ? ? ?