Dec. 30, 2003

The Georgia Tech volleyball team which advanced to the Elite Eight before falling to Hawaii in the NCAA Tournament ends the 2003 season ranked 8th in the final USA Today/AVCA Coaches Poll released last week. The Yellow Jackets, which expereienced their best season in school history with a 34-4 record, received 1,182 votes. Southern California, this year's national champion, is atop the poll, receiving 1,625 votes.

"Obviously, we are excited," said head coach Bond Shymansky, who has led the Yellow Jackets to the highest final ranking in school history. "We had a fantastic season this year and experienced many 'firsts' along the way. Hopefully this is just the start of many successful seasons at Georgia Tech."

This marks just the third time in the program's history that Georgia Tech has appeared in the final poll. In 1995, the Yellow Jackets ended the season ranked 22nd while last season the team finished the year ranked No. 17. The top-10 ranking also marks the highest final ranking for any ACC school while five opponents during the 2003 season finished the year ranked in the top 25.

USA TODAY/AVCA DIVISION I COACHES TOP 25
Final Poll, December 24, 2003
Rank	School (First-Place Votes) Total Points	2003 Record  			Last Ranking
1	USC (65)	1,625	35-0	1
2	Florida	1,558	36-2	3
3	Hawai'i 	1,494	36-2	2
4	Minnesota	1,370	26-11	14
5	UCLA	1,300	24-9	7
6	Pepperdine	1,232	27-3	4
7	Penn State	1,215	31-5	10
8	Georgia Tech	1,182	34-4	11
9	Washington	1,141	23-9	13
10	Stanford	1,054	25-7	5
11	Kansas State	990	30-5	6
12	California	941	25-7	8
13	Nebraska	886	28-5	9
14	Colorado State	823	30-5	12
15	Illinois	717	26-7	15
16	Texas A&M	637	23-10	17
17	Loyola Marymount	578	26-7	16
18	Northern Iowa	502	28-6	18
19	Santa Clara	380	20-11	19
20	Louisville	360	25-6	20
21	Wisconsin	257	22-11	23
22	UC Santa Barbara	240	19-9	21
23	Utah	172	22-9	25
24	Notre Dame	143	23-7	22
25	Maryland	113	27-8	24

Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Pittsburgh 36, Kansas 33, Arkansas 25, Ohio 23, Florida A&M 18, Brigham Young 16, UC Irvine 14, Michigan 12, University of San Francisco 10, Arizona 7, Dayton 7.