LEXINGTON, Ky. – After taking sole possession of the Sunshine State Conference crown, Tampa reclaimed the top spot in nation in the latest AVCA coaches' poll.
| AVCA COACHES' POLL | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |  |
| • Complete poll | ||||
The Spartans passed previous No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul as the Golden Bears dropped to No. 3 after losing a five-set thriller to now-No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth. BYU-Hawaii and Central Missouri remain the No. 4 and No. 5 teams, respectively.
The No. 1 ranking marks the 27th time in program history that head coach Chris Catanach’s squad has earned the top spot, good for second all-time behind Concordia (48). UT has been recognized in 241 consecutive polling periods which is an active streak second only to that of Central Missouri.
Regional foes Palm Beach Atlantic and West Florida come in at No. 19 and No. 21 respectively as UT is the lone representative of the SSC.
The Spartans sit at 27-1 this season and are riding a 20-game win streak heading into the final set of contests of the regular season.
Tampa has been victorious in 33 consecutive conference meetings dating back to Oct. 29, 2011 and is currently 14-0 for the 2013 campaign.
Outside hitter Berkley Whaley earned her fifth SSC player of the week accolade as UT has picked up 11 of the weekly awards. Middle blockers Jessica Wagner and Meagan Burke each have earned three so far this season.
