• The Big Ten Conference and Big Ten Network (BTN) announced a newly created In-Season Volleyball Challenge. Partnering with Discover®, the official credit card of the Big Ten Conference, the inaugural Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge will debut during the 2025 regular season conference schedule starting Oct. 1, encompassing all 18 Big Ten Volleyball programs. Select conference matches played during the month of October will count toward the Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge. Each team will play five designated challenge matches throughout the month, with the winner determined by the highest win total across the five games. Designated matches for the challenge will be noted within the weekly release schedule.
• Featured matchups within the Big Ten | Discover Volleyball Challenge include a battle between Nebraska and Penn State on Friday, Oct. 3, at 8 p.m. ET on FOX, a meeting between Purdue and Indiana at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Thursday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m. ET on BTN, and a match on the final day of the challenge between Nebraska and Wisconsin on Friday, Oct. 31, at 9 p.m. ET on BTN.
• Six Big Ten volleyball programs were among this week’s AVCA/TARAFLEX Top 25, announced on Monday: #1 Nebraska, #7 Wisconsin, #10 Purdue, #12 Minnesota, #15 Penn State and #17 USC. Indiana, Michigan, Oregon and UCLA received votes in this week’s poll.
• Michigan is currently receiving votes in the AVCA poll for the first time this season and just the third time under head coach Erin Virtue. Michigan received six points in week eight in 2024 and 15 points in week nine. The last time the Wolverines were in the top 25 was Oct. 17, 2022, ranking 25th. Michigan finished its non-conference slate 10-1 for the second consecutive season.
• Conference play begins this week with a BTN doubleheader on Wednesday, starting with #1 Nebraska vs. RV Michigan at 7 p.m. ET, followed by Northwestern vs. RV Indiana at 9 p.m. ET. BTN will carry a second doubleheader on Thursday and will broadcast three additional matches this weekend. All other matches will be available on B1G+.
• Michigan State moved to 10-0 with wins last week against Binghamton (3-0), Bowling Green (3-1) and SIUE (3-1). It’s the first 10-0 start for the Spartans since 2012 and they complete the non-conference portion of their season unbeaten for the first time since that same season and fourth time overall (2001, 2009, 2012). The Spartans’ first win last week led to the best start for a Michigan State head coach in their first season.
• Nebraska enters conference play 10-0 for the second time in three years, and the third time since joining the Big Ten in 2011. Nebraska went 5-0 against ranked opponents in its non-conference slate.
• The Spartans and the Cornhuskers are two of eight teams nationally that remain undefeated through week three.
• Oregon head coach Trent Kersten picked up his 100th career win against Oregon State on Thursday. In his first season leading the Ducks, Kersten has led Oregon to a 9-1 record heading into Big Ten play.
• Last Tuesday’s Nebraska-Creighton match amassed 388,000 viewers on FS1 – the most-watched women’s college volleyball telecast in the network’s history.
https://bigten.org/wvb/standings/