Week 10 Coaches Poll

Still no change amongst the top three this week in the AVCA Coaches Poll. Penn State, Texas and Hawaii have a stranglehold on the top spots and by the looks of their upcoming schedules, it will stay that way until the playoffs.

There was however some movement among the nest three. Washington has returned to the #4 spot after losing it briefly to Stanford last week. The Huskies are now alone atop the Pac-10. Stanford is now tied for second in the Pac-10 with UCLA after losing to the Bruins in five sets in Palo Alto.

After a rough stretch at the end of September, UCLA is back. It was a big weekend for the Bruins who have not beaten the Cardinal since 2000. UCLA also took Cal down in four sets to rise four spots in the poll to #7. They've been all over the map this season, but it looks like they are past their rough patch and are enjoying a nice run. Winning seven of their last eight matches in October has got to feel pretty good about now.

Among the teams moving the wrong way down the poll are Minnesota, who lost to unranked Ohio State in three to drop five spots, and Washington State who lost to Arizona and Arizona State in four games each and fell three spots to #24.

UC Irvine is off the list this week after a rough weekend of losses to unranked Pacific and UC Davis. The Anteaters are replaced by Northern Iowa and St. Mary's who are tied for 25th.