Time once more to recap the goings-on in the world of NCAA volleyball over the last seven days, coupled with my current ‘power rankings.’ I wish more of this week’s action had been readily available on the internet airwaves, because it seems like it was some good stuff.
1. UC Irvine. The Anteaters won both of their matches with Hawaii this week. On night 2, UCI took a pretty comfortable sweep, but the first night Hawaii extended them to a full five sets. Nevertheless, it was UCI emerging with the W both nights, and that gives them ten straight wins since a three-match losing streak in mid-January. And it’s not like they’ve had a bunch of cupcakes during that ten-match swing — it encompasses wins at Northridge, home against Long Beach, at UCLA, and at Stanford, among others, obviously. This coming week they face California Baptist and BYU at home. Actually both of these teams beat the Anteaters earlier this season, but it’s obviously the BYU match that means so much more.
2. Long Beach State. The 49ers kept pace, taking a four-setter at Northridge this week in their only match. It was the lone road match in an otherwise very long homestand for the 49ers (they don’t play on the road again until March 29), so they should be brimming with confidence going forward. They’ve got just one match this week, that against Santa Barbara on Friday.
3. BYU. As I covered, BYU won a match they were supposed to win in the sweep over Pacific and then took a big win against Stanford the next night. They’re looking awfully good, just as UCI and LBSU are. It’s 2 spots in the NCAA tournament for the 3 of them, unless the Cardinal can really catch fire come MPSF tournament time. In addition to the huge rematch with Irvine this coming week, BYU have another match they’re supposed to win, coming against UCSD. Both are road matches, though, and that’s something in which the Cougars still don’t have a ton of experience this year. Questions also remain over Russ Lavaja’s status for those matches.
4. Ohio State. Not much happening for the Buckeyes this week, as their only contest was against Division III Juniata College, a match they predictably won quite easily. But with the MPSF teams in this range continuing to beat each other up, I think we need to give a nod to this body of work. It’ll be an upset if it’s not Ohio State coming out of the MIVA this year (a mild upset if it’s Lewis who beat them, a tremendous upset if it’s anyone else). Ohio State have won nine straight matches, losing just four sets in that span. It’s a big week for the Buckeyes this coming week and they can really cement their status as national players if they can knock off Loyola and Lewis in home contests respectively this Friday and Saturday.
5. UCLA. Ugh, this range of the poll is such a mess. I’m not gonna be happy with any permutation of it, and I doubt I will be with the actual poll tomorrow. I’ll give the nod to UCLA because of their straight-sets win at Pepperdine this week, but it doesn’t necessarily make their whole body of work that much better, and it was just two weeks ago I had this team at #9. So you could say I’m having a little trouble pegging them. Just one match for the Bruins this coming week, and it’s probably not gonna tell us much, as they should easily defeat the Santa Barbara Gauchos.
6. Stanford. The Cardinal’s incredible match with BYU was their only contest of this past week. As fun as it was to watch, and as evenly-matched as it was, bottom line is Stanford came away with their second straight loss and fourth in their last six matches. This is not to say the team are reeling — the worst loss in that stretch was in 5 sets on the road against Hawaii, and that’s not exactly a shameful loss under any circumstances. But as I’ve said before, these boys are probably not a team for 2013. Three matches for them this week, against Cal Baptist, Pepperdine, and USC.
7. Pepperdine. They’ll be higher than this in the actual poll, and they probably should be in my rankings, too. Their last result, though, was not a good one, the aforementioned home sweep at the hands of UCLA. They also won an easy sweep over Santa Barbara. There hasn’t been any public information about the extent of the injury Kyle Gerrans sustained in Pepperdine’s match with BYU last week, but suffice it to say he hasn’t returned to action. Pepperdine will continue to miss him in their Friday/Saturday road trip to Pacific and Stanford, both losable matches.
8. Penn State. The Nittany Lions got back to the winning ways this week in two league matches, beating George Mason and beating Princeton, both in four sets. Their schedule this coming week is one of the softest any team could ever ask for in league competition, as they travel to NJIT and Rutgers-Newark, who stand at a combined 5-16 overall and 1-7 in EIVA play. It’ll be a pretty big upset if they don’t sweep both of those matches.
9. CSU Northridge. They continue to hang resilient, though they don’t make up any ground. Little doubt they’ll qualify for the MPSF tournament, and it’ll be interesting to see how they do there. This past week they beat Pacific and lost to Long Beach State (as mentioned), both at home and both in four sets. I again look forward to physically seeing them play, which I will this coming week in their unusual Friday/Sunday double-shot with Hawaii.
10. Lewis. A pity I can’t really up them, after two sweep wins at home, but I don’t really see the opening for it. The Flyers took straight sets over Ball State and over IPFW. You can certainly say those were matches they were supposed to win, and win them they did. Two matches this week for Lewis, with polar differences in importance and quality of opposition, as they host Division III Carthage College on Tuesday in advance of the huge Ohio State match on Saturday, at Ohio State.
11. Harvard. I had them this high last week, so here they remain. Much like Penn State won’t be tested this coming week, Harvard really weren’t this past week, as that was their turn to romp over NJIT and Rutgers, taking straight sets wins over them both. Harvard’s winning streak stands at five, the last four of them sweeps (which, lest we forget, includes the Penn State match). This week they head on the road to George Mason and Princeton, either of which could end up a trap.
12. Loyola. There’s some really motley records in this range. I have this sinking feeling that the 3-8 USC Trojans are still going to be voted a national ranking tomorrow, which is a bit ridiculous, possibly the 5-10 Hawaii Warriors, which (sorry to say) is also a little ridiculous, and maybe the 6-11 Santa Barbara Gauchos. At some point, winning has to mean something. Loyola are 10-7, which includes a disastrous west coast swing and a recent loss to IPFW, but they’ve won more than they’ve lost. That has to mean at least a little (since nobody in this range is gonna be playing for a national championship).
13. California Baptist. The Lancers bear a comparatively sterling 6-7 win/loss record. They were idle this past week, and I prefer to leave a team where I had them in prior rankings when they’re idle. This week, though, they’re in for a probable rough patch facing Stanford and UCI on Monday and Wednesday respectively, then hosting UCSD on Friday.
14. Grand Canyon. They’re also 10-7. They do bear a loss to Division-III Concordia-Irvine (and doesn’t that just sound like a volleyball team’s name?), but that’s really the only ‘bad’ loss they have. Everywhere else, they won the matches they should have been expected to, and that’s not really something you can say about the teams in the lower reaches of the MPSF — the teams who will occupy these lower positions in the actual poll tomorrow. Again I say, winning has to mean something at some point. The Antelopes, who play their schedule in double-shots like Hawaii, have two at home with IPFW this week, which seem like winnable matches.
15. Hawaii. I’m not entirely comfortable voting a 5-10 team a national ranking, even when it’s a team I like, even when they very nearly beat the #1 team in the nation a week ago, even when just about all 10 of those losses could have conceivably been wins. This is a good team, and they’ll play well against Northridge this weekend I am sure. Hopefully they’ll make it a lot more comfortable for me to include them in the top 15 next week.
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