AVCA Top-25 Poll: Week #2 (September 5)

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV volleyball team's perfect 6-0 start to the 2016 season has been noticed by the voters in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I Top-25 Poll. The Rebels and Pittsburgh Panthers (5-1) garnered six points apiece to enter the week deadlocked -- at No. 40 -- in the "others receiving votes" category.

This week's poll is the first instance that UNLV has been recognized since the 2008 edition received four points (No. 39) on October 20.

The 2007 squad was the first in program history to break into the top 25 with back-to-back weekly showings at No. 25 -- November 5 and 12. In all, the team that won the Mountain West Championship and earned the Conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament was listed in the poll -- either ranked or "receiving votes" -- for 13 straight weeks.

The Scarlet & Gray has opened 2016 with two straight 3-0 outings that helped claim the UNLV Invitational (August 26-27) and Rebel Challenge (September 2-3) tournament titles. Half of the team's six wins have come against foes -- Albany (America East), Hofstra (Colonial Athletic Association) and New Mexico State (Western Athletic Conference) -- that were predicted to finish first atop their respective conference's standings. UNLV defeated UC Santa Barbara in the season-opening match, and those same Gauchos sit two points shy of UNLV in the poll. BYU -- a September 17 opponent -- is ranked No. 10 overall.

The Rebels play once more in the Cox Pavilion -- an exhibition versus the Shandong China Junior Team -- Wednesday night (6:00 pm) before they hit the road for tournaments in the Lone Star and Beehive States. UNLV will first travel to Corpus Christi, Texas for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Islanders Classic (September 9-10) before it heads to Orem and Provo, Utah for the UVU/BYU Challenge (September 16-17).