Led by No. 1 Stanford, six of Illinois States 2002 opponents are ranked in the initial USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 poll. ISU meets four of the nations Top 17 teams within an eight-day period in early September--two in Redbird Arena.
The Cardinal, defending NCAA Champions, visit Redbird Arena at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11. Starting six days earlier in a tournament at Madison, the Redbirds play No. 10 Wisconsin and No. 17 Texas A&M on back-to-back nights. The first of the conference home-and-home with Missouri Valley opponent Northern Iowa is on for Sept. 14 in Redbird Arena. The return match is Nov. 15 in Cedar Falls.
No. 25 Notre Dame visits Redbird Arena Oct. 29 and Illinois State plays No. 7 Florida in the Disney Conference Challenge at Orlando, Fla., Nov. 29.
While this years schedule features extraordinary challenges, they arent exactly uncommon in Illinois State volleyball. The Birds have faced 24 of this years Top 25 at some point in recorded volleyball history. Just a bit more than one out of every five matches--231 of 1182--during Illinois States 29-year volleyball history has come against a team now ranked in the Top 25.
Redbird coach Sharon Dingman sees scheduling as one of the most exciting aspects of Illinois State volleyball.
We have tradition here. We have a great arena and terrific fans in it, said Dingman. We can get those teams to play us and play us here. Its awesome for our players as well as our fans.
Twenty three teams received votes and were on two or more ballots in the poll, including Redbird opponents Alabama (Aug. 31/Redbird Arena) and Southwest Missouri State (Sept. 28/Redbird Arena & Oct. 25 at SMS).
The Redbirds open at 7 p.m. Aug. 30 against Florida State in the Barker GMC Classic at Redbird Arena.
-- ## --
USA Today/AVCA Top 25
(Redbird opponents in Bold)
Rank, School (ISUs all-time record vs. foe) Points
1. Stanford (0-3) 1610 pts.
2. Nebraska (5-4) 1502 pts.
3. USC (0-3) 1445 pts.
4. Hawai'i (1-3) 1349 pts.
5. Long Beach State (0-7) 1300 pts.
6. Arizona (1-5) 1282 pts.
7. Florida (0-3) 1255 pts.
8. Pepperdine (2-3) 1188 pts.
9. Ohio State (8-4) 1064 pts.
10. Wisconsin (14-7) 967 pts.
11. UCLA (0-1) 912 pts.
12. Pacific (0-1) 778 pts.
13. Utah (1-4) 654 pts.
14. Northern Iowa (15-24) 645 pts.
15. Michigan State (9-5) 629 pts.
16. Penn State (2-1) 620 pts.
17. Texas A&M (5-6) 482 pts.
18. Colorado State (0-3) 411 pts.
19. Illinois (30-23) 385 pts.
20. UC Santa Barbara (0-2) 346 pts.
21. Colorado (1-0) 308 pts.
22. Kansas State (3-1) 232 pts.
23. BYU (0-7) 203 pts.
24. Santa Clara (---) 195 pts.
25. Notre Dame (6-8) 191 pts.
Other receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: South Carolina (161), North Carolina (155), Texas (117), Louisville (105), San Diego (97), Washington State (81), San Jose State (67), Minnesota (66), Missouri (58), Arkansas (53), Utah State (47), Duke (36), Baylor (26), Cincinnati (12), Georgia Tech (10), Loyola Marymount (10), Michigan (10), Texas Tech (9), Cal Poly (7), Eastern Washington (7), Oregon State (7), South Florida (4), Alabama (3) and Southwest Missouri State (3).
