College Volleyball Top 5 Results: Sept. 13, 2026

College Volleyball Top 5 Results: Sept. 13, 2026

Showdown at the Net previews turned into results: SMU beat Texas and Kentucky in five days, Vanderbilt landed the first ranked win in its history, Purdue won the Paradise Invitational, and the AVCA Top 25 through Sept. 13.

College volleyball Top 5 Results – Week of Sept. 13, 2026. The second full week of the non-conference season answered more questions than it asked. The ACC/SEC Showdown at the Net produced several of the year’s first signature results, the Paradise Invitational crowned a surprise champion in the Bahamas, and the AVCA Top 25 finally started moving in big, visible ways.

New here? Start with our full opening-week recap from Aug. 30 and last week’s Challenge Week recap. Below, every ranked matchup of the week, the new AVCA Top 25, and the early résumés that matter.

Showdown at the Net: The Cross-Conference Series Delivered

The 2026 Shriners Children’s Showdown at the Net paired ACC and SEC programs in campus matches across the week, capped by a neutral-site showcase at State Farm Field House at Walt Disney World in Kissimmee, Fla., where the ACC and SEC staged some of the season’s first heavyweight matchups. The results changed the national conversation:

• Texas A&M knocked off No. 4 Stanford, 3-1 (25-23, 25-13, 21-25, 25-19) in the Kissimmee showcase, hitting .344 with seven aces — the Aggies’ first win over a top-five opponent this season, per 12thman.com.
• No. 2 Pittsburgh swept No. 17 Tennessee, 3-0 (25-17, 28-26, 25-20) in the Saturday-night showcase — Tennessee’s first loss of the season (via utsports.com).
• No. 3 Kentucky swept No. 18 North Carolina, 3-0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-18) at Historic Memorial Coliseum in Lexington (via WKYT).
• No. 5 Louisville handled Missouri, 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-15, 25-17) at the KFC Yum! Center, with Ainoah Cruz recording 27 digs and Paige Felder 12 kills (SI.com recap).
• No. 8 SMU outlasted No. 9 Texas, 3-2 (25-21, 21-25, 25-22, 26-28, 15-10) in the Mustangs’ Moody Coliseum home opener before 6,207 — Nnedi Anyanwu posted 16 kills on .481 and Naya Davis added 22 kills and 13 digs (via SMU Athletics).
• NC State edged LSU, 3-2 (25-23, 21-25, 26-24, 19-25, 15-12) in Baton Rouge in a nearly three-hour match featuring 40 ties and 16 lead changes, with Britni Silver leading the Wolfpack with 22 kills (NCAA.com game summary).

Around the Showdown, Vanderbilt swept Boston College 3-0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-13) to move to 6-0, Arkansas beat Syracuse 3-1 (25-19, 25-23, 12-25, 25-14), Alabama topped Virginia 3-1 in Charlottesville, and Florida swept Miami 3-0 — which Florida’s athletic department called the SEC’s eighth win of the challenge.

The Ranked Matchups That Shaped the Week

The week produced seven ranked-vs.-ranked results, plus one historic unranked upset. Ranks reflect the AVCA poll at the time of play:

Two of the week’s signature stories came outside the ranked-vs.-ranked bracket. Unranked UC Davis stunned No. 7 Arizona State in a five-set upset (NCAA.com), and No. 12 Penn State’s Sept. 11 sweep of No. 4 Stanford happened at The Palestra in Philadelphia — the Nittany Lions’ first match at the historic arena in 41 years, part of the venue’s 100th-anniversary celebration (gostanford.com). Then Vanderbilt beat No. 18 North Carolina, 3-1 (16-25, 26-24, 25-19, 27-25) in New York City — the first ranked win in Commodores program history, behind Reese Animashaun’s 20 kills and Samantha Wunsch’s 18 on .441 (NCAA.com).

Paradise Invitational: Purdue Sweeps Its Way to the Title

Four top-end programs traveled to Baha Mar in Nassau, Bahamas, for the two-day Paradise Invitational (Sept. 12-13), and the results scrambled the middle of the AVCA poll.

• No. 14 Purdue swept No. 8 SMU, 3-0 (30-28, 25-23, 25-22), to be crowned Paradise Invitational Champions. Grace Heaney posted 12 kills, with Kate Hansen and Lameen Mambu adding 10 apiece. SMU actually recorded more kills (49-44) but couldn’t overcome 21 attack errors and 10 service errors — Purdue’s second ranked sweep of the season (NCAA.com).
• SMU beat No. 4 Kentucky, 3-1 a day earlier, adding the Mustangs’ win over No. 9 Texas to make a five-day span against top-10 opponents — the week that vaulted SMU to No. 5 (via SMU Athletics).
• Kentucky swept Houston, 3-0 (25-13, 25-19, 25-23) to close Paradise at 1-1 there and 2-1 on the week, with Brooklyn DeLeye and the Wildcat offense clicking late.
• Purdue also swept Houston, 3-0 in the event opener.

How the AVCA pollers read it: SMU vaulted from No. 8 to No. 5, Purdue climbed from No. 14 to No. 11, and Kentucky slipped to No. 4 despite a winning week.

AVCA Top 25: SMU Crashes the Top Five, Stanford Slides

The AVCA Top 25 through games Sept. 13 kept Nebraska and Pittsburgh on top — the Cornhuskers (48 first-place votes, 1,560 points) and Panthers (15, 1,527) — while everything else moved.

Louisville leapfrogged Kentucky to No. 3; SMU made the week’s biggest jump (No. 8 to No. 5); Stanford slid from No. 4 to No. 8 after losses to Texas A&M and Penn State; and Penn State (No. 12 to No. 9) and Texas A&M (No. 19 to No. 15) both surged on wins over top-six opponents. Colorado pushed to No. 17 at 8-0, while Arizona State (No. 7 to No. 12) and North Carolina (No. 18 to No. 25) fell after their upsets.

Others receiving votes on two or more ballots: Georgia Tech 83; UCLA 46; Tulsa 25; Ball State 24; Vanderbilt 20; Cal Poly 12; Michigan State 7.

The College Volleyball Top 5 Scoreboard

Here’s how the week’s biggest stories stack up on our college volleyball top 5 scoreboard:

The FRESHMEN CLASS: This Week’s Standouts

The freshman class kept announcing itself in the season’s biggest moments:

• Britni Silver (NC State, OH) — a week after earning ACC Freshman of the Week honors, posted 22 kills to lead the Wolfpack past LSU; she leads NC State at 3.95 kills per set.
• Decelise Champion (Wisconsin, MB) — collected a career-high 8 blocks in her collegiate debut against No. 19 Texas A&M (UW recap).
• Addy Tindall (Purdue, RS-Freshman) — 22 kills on .415 hitting against Houston at the Paradise Invitational.
• Ceylin Kuyan (Louisville) — contributed critical kills in the second set as the Cards steadied against Missouri.
• Ella Andrews (Stanford, MB) — 4 kills and 4 blocks in the Cardinal’s sweep of Ohio, with fellow freshman Sarah Hickman adding a kill and a block (Stanford recap).
• Jolene Oddo (Tennessee, MB) — SEC Freshman of the Week for a second straight week; she leads the Vols in blocks.
• Lana Sesar (FIU, OH) — Conference USA Freshman of the Week after racking up 59 kills across a 4-0 week that included a road win over then-RV Florida State.

How the AVCA Top 25 Works

A panel of Division I head coaches votes in the AVCA Top 25, released weekly through the regular season. Nebraska’s 48 first-place votes kept it at No. 1 — down from 57 last week as Pittsburgh’s 10-0 start drew 15 first-place votes — while poll points determine the rest of the order, which is why weeks like this one produce the movement you see above.

Coming Up

• No. 3 Louisville vs. No. 4 Kentucky renew the Bluegrass rivalry on Sept. 20 — the first ranked top-five tangle of the in-season series, with real title-race stakes.
• No. 1 Nebraska hosts Missouri on Sept. 23 in the rescheduled Wrigley Field matchup, restarting from 0-0 at the Devaney Center.
• Texas runs a gauntlet of Tennessee and No. 3 Kentucky with its 4-4 record needing a top-10 result.
• The next AVCA poll drops Monday.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won the biggest matchups of the week?

The SMU-Texas and Texas A&M-Stanford Showdown showcases, Wisconsin over Texas A&M in five, and Penn State sweeping Stanford all turned the rankings on their head. SMU’s five-day run over Texas and Kentucky was the week’s single best resume-build.

Is SMU a legit top-five team?

Yes, on the evidence so far. The Mustangs own wins over No. 9 Texas and No. 4 Kentucky in the same week; their only losses are to Purdue, who swept them to win the Paradise Invitational.

Why did Stanford drop from No. 4 to No. 8?

Stanford lost to Texas A&M (3-1) at the Showdown showcase and to Penn State (3-0) at The Palestra, then beat Ohio to finish the week at 5-2. Two losses to ranked opponents will do that.

What happened at the Paradise Invitational?

Purdue went 2-0 in the Bahamas — sweeping Houston and No. 8 SMU — to win the title, while SMU beat Kentucky and Kentucky beat Houston. Records entering conference play: Purdue 5-2, SMU 6-2, Kentucky 7-2.

How does the AVCA poll work?

Division I coaches vote each week to produce the AVCA Top 25. First-place votes and total points reflect how many ballots ranked a team where, and the poll updates weekly through the season. For more on the conferences behind all of this, see our Big Ten vs. SEC vs. ACC power ranking.

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