That’s what the kids are calling ’em these days, right? Power rankings? Feel the power!!! Yeah, I may or may not stick with that name. But here goes….
1. BYU. The Cougars still have six matches to go, but I think it’s pretty safe to project them into the NCAA tournament at this point. If they should stub their toe in the MPSF tournament, I can’t imagine they’d be passed over for the at-large bid. After the sweep against Northridge, with all three sets competitive, BYU just plain embarrassed Long Beach State, winning (25-22, 25-13, 25-15) on the 49ers’ home court. The Beach are probably happy for that night that they don’t webcast their matches. For BYU, it’s an emphatic receipt from LBSU’s win in Provo earlier this year. So BYU will be one of the four teams playing for a national championship, you can pretty much take it to the bank. It would take something stupidly impossible, like BYU losing all six of their remaining matches, for this not to happen. I still say they probably will lose one or two, but they might just run the table. Back home against Pepperdine and USC this Thursday and Saturday before four on the road to close out the regular season.
2. UC Irvine. The Anteaters didn’t play this past week. They start a season-concluding six-match homestand this Saturday and Sunday against UCLA and UC San Diego.
3. Pepperdine. It starts to get tough here, because pretty much everyone in this range of the poll lost this past week. And lost bad. Pepperdine’s four-set loss to lowly USC shouldn’t up them (I had them fourth last week), but it’s actually probably the “least bad” loss anyone in this realistic range had this past week. Hey, don’t look now, but Pepperdine are just 3-6 in true road matches this season, so they’re certainly hoping to wrap up a first-round home match in the MPSF playoffs as soon as possible. They’ll have to do it on the road this week, in two pretty tough venues, Thursday at BYU and Saturday at Cal Baptist.
4. Long Beach State. Prior to the dreadful BYU match, the 49ers also played Cal Baptist, and got their only win in their last four MPSF matches by outlasting them in five sets, winning 15-6 in the fifth. That loss to BYU was a bad one, but it realistically oughtn’t drop them any further than this (they may even flip flop with Pepperdine in the real poll since they lost to a far better team than did the Waves). They’re still in line for a first-round MPSF tournament home match, though any chance at hosting the semis and finals is long gone. Four straight on the road for the ‘Beach before they hold Senior Night mid-next month, and this Firday and Saturday it’s off to Pacific and Stanford.
5. UCLA. I’m gonna break one of my unofficial rules and up a team when they didn’t play. UCLA indeed didn’t this past week, but that gave them far better results than the next few teams on the list. It’s at UCI and UCSD this Friday and Saturday for the Bruins.
6. Lewis. The Flyers suffered easily the worst loss of their season this past week, as the Lindenwood Lions claimed what has got to be the biggest win their program has ever had, sweeping Lewis aside (25-23, 26-24, 26-24). The Flyers effectively rebounded by themselves sweeping aside the hapless Quincy Hawks, though it’s not like they came with a vengeance, as (25-21, 25-23, 25-20) was the final. Lewis’ only match this week is against Conference Carolinas’ Lees-McRae, on Thursday.
7. Stanford. Another team gets upped for doing nothing. It was a brutal week for the middle of the poll. The Cardinal are finally back in action this coming week, Friday and Saturday at home against CSUN and LBSU.
8. Loyola. Not kidding, y’all. Brutal week for the middle of the poll. The Ramblers scored road wins against Quincy and against Lindenwood this week, which should not up a team two spots. Even I’ll come out and say it directly this time — this is too high to have them. But somebody’s gotta go here. They head home for a double-shot with Grand Canyon this week, and they should have good odds of winning both. They’ve got a solid chance to host a MIVA tournament quarterfinal match.
9. Ohio State. I considered dropping them even further (this is a drop of three ranks from last week, in my rankings), but that would require even goofier things than Loyola at 8th. The Buckeyes lost two this past week, and while both were on the road, they were against teams pretty much nobody had in their top 15, losing in straight sets at Ball State and in a full five at IPFW. They’re in kind of a no-win situation this week, as they host two Conference Carolinas teams on Friday and Saturday (respectively, Mount Olive and Lees-McRae). If they win, well yeah, they should win those matches. Whoo boy, if they lose….
10. UC Santa Barbara. What the hell, let’s up three teams from last week’s rankings who were not in action this week. Three matches this week for the Gauchos, a contest with Division III Concordia on Tuesday before the massively important Hawaii double-shot over the weekend.
11. Cal Baptist. I had CSUN here at first, but the Lancers beat the Matadors this week, in five sets. They also lost a tight five-setter to Long Beach State, as mentioned, fading in the 5th. That’s a better week than the Matadors had, and their overall bodies of work are starting to blur together. They’re not eligible for the MPSF playoffs (they’re not — definitive answer), and they lose Levi Cabral to graduation after this year, so who knows what they’re bound for next year. Three at home before three on the road to conclude the Lancers’ season, starting with hosting USC and Pepperdine this Thursday and Saturday.
12. CSU Northridge. It does seem harsh to drop them three ranks, even after two losses, considering one of them was the deceptively competitive BYU match. But they did also lose to Cal Baptist, and are now in danger of falling out of the MPSF playoffs entirely, though Hawaii and UCSB playing head-to-head this coming weekend would seem to make that unlikely (e.g. one of them’s bound to lose out in favor of the other). The Matadors have six on the road to close out the regular season, starting this Friday and Saturday at Stanford and Pacific.
13. Penn State. I basically forgot about the Nittany Lions this past week. They swept aside St. Francis College, a team they have never failed to defeat. It gets a little harder for Penn State this week as they travel to Princeton and George Mason. They beat both the Tigers and the Patriots at home this season, but didn’t sweep either. Neither of those is an altogether easy win for Penn State.
14. Hawaii. Good results for the Warriors this week, if not performances. Wins are wins, and two ugly-ass wins over Pacific keep them in the conversation for the MPSF playoffs. This weekend’s two-fer with UCSB will tell the rest of the story.
15. Ball State. Quite a nice turnaround for the Cardinals ever since that five-match losing streak. We all kind of figured the losing streak meant the eight-match winning streak they rode at the beginning of the year was something of a mirage, and maybe it indeed was, but it bears pointing out that those five losses included the top three teams in the MIVA, all on the road. They’ve come back to win six in a row since then, including wins over Penn State and Ohio State as well as avenging the earlier loss to IPFW. No doubt USC’s win over Pepperdine will keep them ranked in the real poll, but I’m favoring Ball State ahead of the MPSF’s dregs.
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