AVCA Rankings--September 3, 2018

[carrolltonsker]

I didn't see this happening. We got 3 1st place votes, but dropped from 5th to 7th after going 3-0 this week, and winning 9 of 10 sets.

Through Games SEP. 3, 2018
RANK SCHOOL POINTS RECORD PREVIOUS
1 Minnesota (35) 1538 5-0 3
2 Wisconsin (6) 1460 4-0 8
3 BYU (7) 1424 5-0 9
4 Stanford (8) 1414 4-1 1
5 Penn State (4) 1289 5-0 6
6 Texas 1274 3-1 2
7 Nebraska (3) 1257 4-1 5
8 Florida 1117 3-2 4
9 UCLA 1085 4-0 10
10 Southern California (1) 1076 5-1 7
11 Illinois 1048 5-0 11
12 Washington 813 3-1 13
13 Pittsburgh 799 6-0 14
14 Creighton 716 4-2 15
15 Baylor 604 4-2 12
T-16 Kentucky 582 3-3 16
T-16 San Diego 582 1-3 19
18 Oregon 514 4-2 18
19 Purdue 450 5-0 20
20 Michigan 310 5-0 23
21 Utah 299 5-1 22
22 Cal Poly 216 5-1 24
23 Washington State 202 4-0 NR
24 Colorado 192 3-2 21
25 Marquette 165 5-1 NR

Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Iowa State 88; Northern Iowa 68; Alabama 30; Arizona 28; Louisville 27; Cincinnati 26; Wichita State 26; Colorado State 21; Oregon State 13; UCF 12; Wyoming 12; Georgia 11; Michigan State 7

Four teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of 11 combined points.

Dropped Out: Northern Iowa 17; Colorado State 25

Next Poll: September 10

 

[Undertow]

I didn't see the drop to 7th coming either. I was guessing Nebraska would move up to 4th, but was wondering how it would shake out with all the upsets in the top 5. Apparently the voters decided that an undefeated BYU team that defeated the No.1 team, and an undefeated Wisconsin team that defeated the No.2 team, each got enough of a resume' boost to take them from the back of the top ten, all the way to the "front row."
I am curious about the Penn State vote. They played 2 more nobodies (well aTm at least has a pulse) and suddenly that's good enough to jump Nebraska, whereas last week when they played 3 nobodies, and the Huskers went 1-1, Penn State was still behind us. That's okay, this week The Cult that IS Penn State travels west to play Stanford and Oregon (I believe both matches are at Palo Alto). That's two somebodies that should tell us how good the Nittany Lions are to this point. Top ranked Minnesota is also playing Stanford and Oregon this weekend.
I'm also a little surprised that Illinois didn't sneak into the top ten. The Illini beat Washington (ranked 13th at the time) in 4 and Colorado (ranked 21st at the time) in 3, but stayed at 11. In fact Washington moved up 1 to 12 despite the defeat.

There are still seven B1G teams in the Top 25 and they are loaded up at the front end. 3 of the top 5, 4 of the top 7, 5 of the top 11, teams are from the B1G. Purdue and Michigan round up the representation in the poll at 19 and 20 respectively. Michigan State is still receiving votes, just less than last week (even though they went 3-0 and beat North Carolina). Ohio State lost to Ole Miss in 5 and is no longer getting votes.

What a difference a week makes. Northern Iowa goes to SoCal, plays three ranked teams (2 in the top 10 at the time) and comes out of it 2 - 1 and ranked. Then they come home and play Iowa State once and Washington State twice and go 0 - 3 on their home court. And obviously they drop out of the rankings.

The two opponents this week are Creighton which is ranked 14th, and Iowa State which barely missed out being ranked and is receiving votes to the equivalent of 26th.

This is commentary from the NCAA website about the rankings:

https://www.ncaa.com/news/volleybal...ge-volleyball-rankings-gophers-claim-top-spot