College Volleyball Top 5 Results: Sept. 6, 2026

College volleyball Top 5 Results – Week of Sept. 6, 2026. Sunday at Wrigley Field, the sport takes over one of America’s most famous ballparks. The 2026 Allstate Big Ten/SEC Challenge Week closes out with a doubleheader — No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 13 Penn State at 7 p.m. ET, then No. 1 Nebraska vs. Missouri at 9 p.m. ET — both airing on FOX from inside a Major League Baseball stadium in Chicago.

New here? Start with our full opening-week recap from Aug. 30, including Nebraska’s sweep of Texas at the Players Era Showcase and the freshman class that announced itself at AVCA First Serve. Below, we break down every ranked matchup of Challenge Week, the new AVCA Top 25, and what to watch for from the Wrigley Field showcase.

Big Ten/SEC Challenge Week: The Big Ten Took the Series 16-12

The Big Ten and SEC sent all 34 of their programs head-to-head across four days of competition, and when the dust settled before Sunday, the Big Ten owned a 16-12 edge — the exact record carried on the official Challenge Week central hub entering the Wrigley finale. The reconfigured Big Ten, with Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington now in the fold, leaned on its new West Coast members at key moments.

• Kentucky swept UCLA, 3-0 in Lexington on Sept. 2 — Kentucky’s third consecutive sweep after blanking Utah State and South Florida the weekend before.
• Texas swept USC, 3-0 at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin on Sept. 2, keeping the Longhorns’ ranked-caliber week respectable.
• Washington went 2-0 in its Oklahoma swing, beating Ole Miss 3-2 on Sept. 3 and Oklahoma 3-1 on Sept. 4.
• Oregon beat Missouri, 3-1 on Sept. 1, while Oklahoma edged Ohio State, 3-2 on Sept. 3.
• Wisconsin rebounded from a rough opening stretch by beating No. 17 Florida 3-2 on Sept. 2 and Auburn 3-0 on Sept. 3.
• Purdue swept Texas A&M before outlasting Georgia 3-2; Tennessee swept Illinois in Knoxville; Michigan State beat LSU and South Carolina; Rutgers swept Arkansas; and Vanderbilt beat Maryland and Rutgers.

The Ranked Matchups That Shaped the Week

Challenge Week produced five ranked-vs.-ranked results, headlined by a pair of statement sweeps. Here’s every one, straight from the NCAA.com Challenge Week recap and the Big Ten’s central scoreboard:

Around the country, NCAA.com also flagged a run of ranked matchups outside the challenge — No. 18 TCU over No. 8 SMU, 3-2; No. 2 Pittsburgh over No. 24 BYU, 3-1; No. 6 Louisville over No. 18 TCU, 3-0; No. 17 Florida over No. 20 Baylor, 3-0; No. 22 Tennessee over No. 21 Indiana, 3-0; No. 6 Louisville over No. 9 Texas, 3-0; and No. 18 TCU over No. 14 Purdue, 3-0 — plus an unranked upset: Florida State over No. 16 Kansas, 3-2.

No. 1 Nebraska and No. 3 Kentucky Headline the Wrigley Field Doubleheader

Sunday’s showcase pits four programs — No. 1 Nebraska, No. 3 Kentucky, No. 13 Penn State, and unranked Missouri — inside a Major League Baseball park for one night. The NCAA.com live-updates hub broke down how each team has fared against ranked opposition this season.

Kentucky vs. Penn State (7 p.m. ET, FOX). Kentucky enters 4-1 and 1-1 against ranked teams: the Wildcats swept then-No. 6 Wisconsin 3-0 and lost to then-No. 4 Pittsburgh 3-1, both at AVCA First Serve. Penn State, at 3-0, hasn’t faced a ranked opponent yet this season — this is its first real test. Both arrived with blue-chip freshman classes and top-10 program pedigree.

Nebraska vs. Missouri (9 p.m. ET, FOX). The No. 1 Cornhuskers, carrying 57 first-place votes in the latest AVCA poll, are undefeated against ranked teams — sweeping then-No. 2 Texas 3-0 in Las Vegas, plus exhibition sweeps of then-No. 11 SMU and then-No. 17 Florida at Spikes Under the Lights (those two don’t count toward their 2-0 regular-season mark). Missouri is 0-1 against ranked teams, dropping a 3-1 decision to No. 25 Oregon on Tuesday.

AVCA Top 25: Pitt Rises, Texas Slips After Week One

The first AVCA Top 25 of the regular season (through games Aug. 30) and Sunday’s Wrigley recap agreed on the big picture: Nebraska held No. 1, Pittsburgh jumped to No. 2 after a 4-0 start, and Texas slid from No. 2 to No. 9 following a 2-2 week. Pitt also took over the No. 1 spot in Michella Chester’s Power 10 rankings on Aug. 31, with Nebraska No. 2 and Kentucky No. 3.

Arizona State (12 to 7), SMU (11 to 8), Creighton (13 to 10), Minnesota (14 to 11), and USC (20 to 15) all moved up; Purdue (9 to 14), Indiana (16 to 21), and Kansas (15 to 16) slipped after 0-1 or 0-2 starts through Aug. 30.

Others receiving votes: Georgia Tech 126; UCLA 44; Utah 33; Cal Poly 32; Miami (FL) 26; Dayton 25; Michigan 16; Iowa State 11; San Diego 9; Rice 8; Western Kentucky 6.

The College Volleyball Top 5 Scoreboard

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

How the AVCA Top 25 Works

A panel of Division I head coaches votes in the AVCA Top 25 rankings, released weekly through the season. Nebraska’s 57 first-place votes made it a commanding No. 1, while Pitt’s 4-0 résumé earned six. The AVCA poll is released weekly during the regular season, so expect movement again after Sunday’s Wrigley results.

Coming Up: Showdown at the Net (Sept. 8-9)

The cross-conference theme continues next week. The 2026 Shriners Children’s “Showdown at the Net” pairs 16 ACC and 16 SEC programs across 14 matches Sept. 8-9, capped by a neutral-site doubleheader at State Farm Field House at Walt Disney World in Kissimmee, Fla. — Pitt vs. Tennessee (ESPN2, 6:30 p.m.) and Stanford vs. Texas A&M (ESPN2, 9 p.m.). Elsewhere, Kentucky hosts North Carolina, SMU hosts Texas, and Louisville hosts Missouri on Sept. 9.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won the 2026 Big Ten/SEC Challenge Week?
The Big Ten took the series 16-12 across 28 matches played Tuesday through Friday, with the Wrigley Field doubleheader serving as the finale on Sunday.

What happened at Wrigley Field?
No. 3 Kentucky met No. 13 Penn State at 7 p.m. ET and No. 1 Nebraska faced Missouri at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 6, with both games on FOX from Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

Why did Texas drop in the rankings?
Texas opened the season 2-2 — losing to No. 12 Arizona State and No. 1 Nebraska — and the AVCA poll through Aug. 30 still reflected those two losses, dropping the Longhorns from No. 2 to No. 9. A Sept. 2 sweep of No. 15 USC righted the ship, but a 3-0 loss to No. 6 Louisville on Sept. 6 left them 3-3.

Is Pitt the No. 1 team?
Pitt is No. 2 in the AVCA poll behind Nebraska, but the Panthers claimed the top spot in NCAA.com’s Power 10 rankings after a 4-0 start that kicked off with a four-set win over Kentucky at AVCA First Serve.

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.

For more on the conferences behind all of this, see our Big Ten vs. SEC vs. ACC power ranking.

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