The American Volleyball Coaches Association released its preseason rankings on Monday and Florida volleyball will open the season ranked No. 17 in the AVCA/TARAFLEX Preseason Top-25 poll.
That makes it 36 straight years that the Gators have been included in the preseason poll. It also represents the seventh-straight preseason top-25 appearance for head coach Ryan Theis during his head coaching career — two with Florida and five with Marquette.
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Of the Gators’ 25 opponents they are set to face during the regular season, seven were included in the preseason rankings. Florida will face No. 3 Kentucky and No. 22 Tennessee in Gainesville this fall, while also matching up with No. 2 Texas, No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 14 Minnesota and No. 21 Baylor away from the O’Connell Center.
The Orange and Blue will also face No. 1 Nebraska in a preseason exhibition held in Arlington, Texas.
In-state rivals Miami (124) and Florida State (3) also received votes.
AVCA-Taraflex Division I WVB Preseason Poll
|
Rank |
School [1st] |
Votes |
|
1 |
Nebraska [57] |
1,568 |
|
2 |
Texas [1] |
1,427 |
|
3 |
Kentucky [4] |
1,398 |
|
4 |
Pittsburgh |
1,383 |
|
5 |
Stanford |
1,312 |
|
6 |
Wisconsin |
1,268 |
|
7 |
Louisville |
1,140 |
|
8 |
Texas A&M [1] |
1,089 |
|
9 |
Purdue |
1,002 |
|
10 |
Penn State |
947 |
|
11 |
SMU |
934 |
|
12 |
Arizona State |
920 |
|
13 |
Creighton |
843 |
|
14 |
Minnesota |
721 |
|
15 |
Kansas |
566 |
|
16 |
Indiana |
497 |
|
17 |
Florida |
455 |
|
18 |
TCU |
444 |
|
19 |
North Carolina |
437 |
|
20 |
Southern California |
395 |
|
21 |
Baylor |
361 |
|
22 |
Tennessee |
194 |
|
23 |
Colorado |
180 |
|
24 |
BYU |
161 |
|
25 |
Oregon |
138 |
Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Miami (FL) 124; Iowa State 104; Georgia Tech 77; UCLA 61; Cal Poly 58; Utah 41; San Diego 34; Western Kentucky 33; Marquette 28; Northern Iowa 27; Dayton 22; Rice 14; Kansas State 10; Michigan State 10; Arizona 8; Illinois 7; Florida State 3; Villanova 3
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Eight teams were mentioned on only one ballot for a combined 31 points.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Where Florida volleyball ranks in preseason top-25 poll ahead of 2026
