The USA TODAY/American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 women's Division I volleyball teams as ranked by 59 coaches with records through December 21, 1996:
Rank School (First-Place Votes) Total Points Record Last Week 1 Stanford (59) 1475 31-2 2 2 Hawai`i 1404 35-3 5 3 Nebraska 1358 30-4 4 4 Florida 1296 37-2 1 5 Penn State 1239 31-3 3 6 Michigan State 1165 26-7 7 7 Washington State 1121 27-6 9 8 BYU 1041 27-7 19 9 Loyola Marymount 980 26-3 6 10 Long Beach State 929 33-3 8 11 Texas 884 23-7 10 12 Pacific 838 26-7 11 13 Ohio State 772 27-6 12 14 USC 731 21-9 13 15 Wisconsin 639 25-8 17 16 Louisville 568 26-5 22 17 UC Santa Barbara 513 23-9 14 18 Washington 453 23-8 18 19 Texas A&M 411 25-8 15 20 George Mason 357 26-3 16 21 Maryland 287 26-5 21 22 South Florida 238 27-5 23 23 Arizona 180 20-10 20 24 Kansas State 131 26-9 24 25 Notre Dame 71 22-12 N/ROthers receiving votes: Colorado (25); Minnesota (17); Texas Tech (14); San Diego State (9); Arkansas (7); Colorado State (6); Illinois State (6); Oral Roberts (6); Georgia Tech (3); University of San Diego (1).