If Cornhusker State is the benchmark for college volleyball, then Creighton, Nebraska is the epicenter.

Expect huge ratings for the Big Ten Network on Tuesday night when No. 9 Creighton (5-0) takes on No. 5 Nebraska (5-1) in the annual battle of two of the nation’s best teams in a state where our sport is king. Or, as we should say, queen.

Also in this Volleyball Today, the new AVCA Division I Women’s Volleyball Poll was released on Monday and the popularity contest for coaches has had a few weeks of major changes from the week before.

Michigan State is getting a new arena, last weekend there was a Queens & Kings of the Court event in the Netherlands and the next game is later this month in Miami.

NCAA Volleyball Tuesday

There are 33 games on the schedule, none bigger than Creighton at Nebraska. This is the first time in this rivalry that both teams have been ranked in the top 10. First serve at 7 p.m. will be called by Larry Punteney and VBM staffer Emily Ehman. Not home? Watch it on FoxSportsGo.

Nebraska has won 27 in a row at home and is 22-0 all-time against Creighton of the Big East. John Cook is 19-0 against Creighton and Bluejays coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 0-16 against Nebraska. The game was also played in Nebraska last year and the Huskers won 25-9, 25-13, 23-25, 25-20. Nebraska won in five games at Creighton in 2002.

Also Tuesday:

No. 8 Wisconsin is home to Milwaukee, which has played a fairly tough pre-conference schedule. The Panthers (3-3), lost to Stanford, beat Western Illinois and Northern Illinois, lost to SMU and Loyola Marymount, and beat Weber State.

No. 16 Tennessee plays at Western Kentucky, No. 18 Baylor plays SMU (No. 26 in the 25-team poll), No. 19 Minnesota plays St. Thomas and No. 21 Florida State, down six spots in the poll, plays at North Florida.

Also, East Carolina (6-0) plays Campbell, two teams (3-2) play UC Davis against Sacramento State, Cal plays Saint Mary’s, Texas State plays Hawaii, Jacksonville State (5-1) plays Chattanooga (6-1) and on the other end of the spectrum, something has to happen when Oral Roberts (0-6) plays Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-6).

On Monday, Nicholls State swept Alcorn, Lipscomb did the same against Nashville rival Belmont, and Washington State defeated Eastern Washington in five. Katy Ryan had 20 kills for WSU, with three digs and two blocks, one of which was solo.

AVCA Division I Women’s Volleyball Poll

In the week after Texas lost twice, Nebraska fell and Penn State crushed Louisville, Pittsburgh is the new No. 1 at 3-0.

Pitt received 29 first-place votes, Stanford (4-0) received 23 first-place votes and is ranked No. 2, followed by 5-0 Penn State, which received six votes. Next was Louisville (5-1), which received one vote, followed by No. 5 Nebraska (5-1), which received two first-place votes. Who could have voted those last three into No. 1?

Pitt was No. 3. The Panthers, who have reached three straight national semifinals, return nearly the entire team with stellar additions, but have beaten then-No. 10 Oregon, Long Beach State and Buffalo in barely the schedule played by the other teams in the top six. Pitt travels to No. 23 USC on Wednesday.

Stanford was ranked No. 5, Penn State was ranked No. 7, Louisville remained at No. 4, Nebraska dropped three spots to No. 5 and Texas dropped five spots to sixth.

Purdue moved up one spot to No. 7, Wisconsin dropped two spots to No. 8, Creighton moved up to No. 9 and Kentucky dropped one spot to 10th.

Marquette and UCLA dropped out, leaving Miami at No. 20 and TCU at No. 25.

Click here for the full survey.

New digs for Michigan State

As reported by the Lansing State Journal:

A new Michigan State University sports arena will be home to MSU’s volleyball, gymnastics and wrestling teams, athletic director Alan Haller said Saturday, a day after The Supervisory Board has approved the progress of the projectThe plan is for the arena to be a 4,000- to 5,500-seat venue, though Haller said they will work to ensure it is large enough to meet the minimum requirements for hosting Big Ten championships in those sports. Additionally, he envisions a multi-purpose space that could also host the state finals in some Michigan High School Athletic Association sports, as well as concerts and other events in the Lansing area.

Click here for the full story.

Hermosa Beach Photo Gallery

The non-AVP Hermosa Beach Open was this past weekend. If you missed it, check out the results and a great photo gallery:

Court Kings & Court Kings Utrecht 2024

The next Queens & Kings of the Court competition will take place in Miami in two weeks, but last weekend in the Netherlands the winners were Alejandro Huerta from Spain, Christoph Dressler from Austria, Katja Stam from the Netherlands and Laura Ludwig from Germany.

In this special edition of the competition, which the organizers called “The Ultimate Mashup,” players were only allowed to team up with someone of a different nationality.

Huerta and Dressler defeated Martins Plavins of Latvia and Frederick Bialoakosz of England in the men’s final. Stam and Ludwig defeated Stam’s regular partner, Raisa School, and Daniela Alvarez of Spain, the Olympian from TCU.

Click here for the recap. Click here for information about the event at Miami Beach’s Lummus Park on Ocean Drive from September 27-29.