EUGENE - The University of Oregon volleyball team (25-9, 11-7) ended the season ranked No. 9 nationally for the second straight year in the season’s final Bison / AVCA Coaches Poll and remained in the top 10 nationally for the 10th straight edition.

The 2008 season was another memorable one in the rapid ascent of the Duck program into the national elite. UO advanced to the NCAA third round for the second time ever, notched its most overall wins (25) since 1984 (27), and tied its best Pac-10 finish and record (fourth, 11-7) since 1987. Oregon also claimed its third straight top-six consecutive league finish (fourth-’08, fifth-’07; sixth-’06) since the origin of the Pacific-10 Conference in 1986.

Other highlights from the season included a 9-8 mark against NCAA tournament qualifiers, a school record 15-match home winning streak, six wins over top-25 ranked teams (including four, top-10 programs), and top-15 rankings the whole campaign that included an all-time high of No. 6 in mid-October.

Overall in the final season poll, the Pacific-10 Conference again featured five of the nation’s top 10 teams and another in the top 15. The top two teams – No. 2 Stanford (31-4), No. 5 Washington (27-5) – maintained their previous positions, No. 6 California (26-7) and No. 8 UCLA (22-11) improved two and one spots, respectively, and No. 9 Oregon (25-9) and No. 13 USC (17-12) dropped two and one positions, respectively.

Last week, the Cardinal finished as the national runner-up to Penn State for the second straight season, while Cal and Washington advanced to the Regional Final (Elite Eight), Oregon and UCLA were also Regional advancers (Sweet 16), and USC advanced to the 32-team second round of the 64-team field (a final bracket of results is available in the LINKS box to the right).

Also this poll, two non-conference Duck foes - No. 11 Illinois and No. 16 Utah – climbed three and two positions, respectively. Fellow opponent New Mexico State again received votes, while UO's NCAA tourney second-round victim, North Carolina, failed to receive votes for the first time since the third poll this season.

The complete poll is included below and available at the http://www.avca.org/divisions/division-one-women/polls address.

After UO climbed to an all-time high sixth in early October, it stood seventh and eighth in editions since then. Before this season, UO’s previous highest all-time ranking — ninth — came in the final two polls of 2007 when it made its first-ever Sweet 16 appearance in the 64-team NCAA tourney format.

Overall during the campaign, UO has stood sixth (poll #7), seventh (poll #6, #8, #9, #14), eighth (#10, #11, #12, #13), ninth (#15), 11th (polls #4-5), 12th (polls #2-3), 13th (#1) and 11th in the preseason version.

The Ducks’ string of top-15 rankings is now 21 straight polls strong, and previous rankings follow: 2008: Preseason – 11th; 9/2 – 13th; 9/9 – 12th; 9/17 – 12th; 9/24 - 11th; 9/30 - 11th; 10/6 – 7th; 10/13 – 6th; 10/20 – 7th; 10/27 – 7th; 11/3 – 8th; 11/10 – 8th; 11/17 – 8th; 11/24 – 8th; 12/1 - 7th; 12/23 - 9th. 2007: 11/24 - 14th; 12/1 - 13th; 11/26 - 13th; 12/3 – ninth; 12/10 – ninth.

In the NCAA’s final RPI index of the season, UO stood 14th. For comparison’s sake in earlier editions, UO stood 23rd (#1, #2), 11th (#3, #4), 12th (#5) and 10th (#6). The final updated rankings are available at this website ( http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/weeklyrpi/2008WVBrpi1.html ).

Bison/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll
2008 Poll #15: December 23, 2008

* courtesy of www.AVCA.org

1    Penn State (60)   1500   38-0   1
> 2  Stanford          1430   31-4   2
3    Nebraska          1377   31-3   4
4    Texas             1333   29-4   3
> 5  Washington        1257   27-5   5
> 6  California        1177   26-7   8
7    Hawai’i           1152   31-4   6
> 8  UCLA              1036   22-11  9
9    Oregon             972   25-9   7
10   Florida            927   27-4   11
> 11 Illinois           822   26-8   14
> 12 Iowa State         777   22-13  NR
> 13 USC                702   17-12  12
14   Minnesota          674   27-7   10
15   Purdue             651   26-9   17
> 16 Utah               599   26-6   18
17   Michigan           573   26-9   19
18   Wichita State      514   30-2   13
19   San Diego          422   23-5   15
20   Kansas State       351   24-8   16
21   Saint Louis        313   29-5   21
22   Kentucky           218   26-6   20
23   Long Beach State   188   26-6   24
24   Colorado State     164   23-7   22
25   Santa Clara        101   18-10  NR

Others Receiving Votes (and appearing on two or more ballots): Western Michigan 67; >New Mexico State 66; Pepperdine 43; Tulane 23; Middle Tennessee 15; UAB 12; Cincinnati 9; San Francisco 8; Texas A&M 8; Duke 7; Clemson 5; Western Kentucky 2

Two schools were listed on only one ballot for a total of 6 points.

Dropped out: Pepperdine (23); San Francisco (25)

> Indicates Duck opponents in 2008

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