Had to hold off on this post for a few hours, and you’ll read why.
1. BYU. I generally detest the phrase “’nuff said,” but, um, ’nuff said. A fairly easy win over Pepperdine, a laughably easy win over USC, it’s good to be the Cougars right now. I can’t see any scenario where they’re not one of the 4 teams playing for the national championship. They’ve already wrapped up home court for the MPSF tournament. Road matches the rest of the regular season for BYU, starting Friday/Saturday at UCSB and UCLA.
2. UC Irvine. But just barely. They started off their week with a 4-set loss to a surging UCLA team, and just minutes ago sealed a comeback win over UC San Diego where they dropped the first two sets. They’ve still got the the best body of work this side of Provo, and there’s nothing really wrong with losing to UCLA, even at home (both of these matches were at Irvine), but this is still the worst week they’ve had since either mid-January or the night BYU came back from 0-2, 14-19 against them (depending on your perspective). Home cookin’ continues for the Anteaters this weekend, Friday/Saturday against Stanford and Pacific.
3. Long Beach State. But again, it’s not by much. The 49ers did win both of their matches this week, topping Pacific in four sets and Stanford in a full five, but you couldn’t really say either was a terribly strong performance. But they stand at 15-6 in league, tied with UCI (the Anteaters hold the tiebreaker with a season sweep over the ‘Beach). It’s a position most every other team would like to be in. Thursday/Saturday for Long Beach this week, at USC and Pepperdine.
4. UCLA. The Bruins are trending really well, as if buoyed by coach John Speraw’s ascension to the helm of the US men’s national team (I doubt one has anything to do with the other, but they do correlate). UCLA finished off a 6-0 month of March with wins at UCSD and at UC Irvine this week. They’ve got four straight at home to close out the regular season. With some good performances, they’ll have a postseason match at home, too, and then who knows. Maybe they’ll be playing at Pauley at season’s end, too. It’s Thursday/Saturday with Cal Baptist and BYU this week.
5. Pepperdine. The Waves have now lost three straight, and are just 3-8 in true road matches this year, so if they end up travelling to Pauley Pavilion for a first-round MPSF tournament, you’d have to favor the homestanding Bruins. This week, it was four-set losses for the Waves at BYU and at Cal Baptist. A few weeks back, the Waves looked like championship contenders, but it seems a lot less likely now. Maybe they never were. Back home for Pepperdine this week, Thursday against CSUN and then Senior Night on Saturday when the Waves host Long Beach State.
6. Lewis. This week was something of a MIVA/Conference Carolina challenge series. The MIVA won all six matches, but the Carolina teams showed fairly in many of them. Not in Lewis’ match with Lees-McRae, though, a match the Flyers won pretty handily. Just one match for Lewis this coming week, but it’s a big one, Thursday’s rematch with Ohio State, at Lewis.
7. UC Santa Barbara. I was really impressed with them this weekend. While Saturday’s match was probably the worst match Hawaii have played all season, coupled with what was probably one of the Gauchos’ best (couldn’t say, as I haven’t seen them as much), the ‘baseline’ differences between the two teams were clear and stark. This is a team that could go on a serious tournament run and UCI or Long Beach State or whoever draw them in the first round of the MPSF’s had better do their homework. It’s a Wednesday/Friday for the Gauchos this week, travelling to Cal Baptist and then hosting BYU.
8. Loyola. They scored two road wins this past week over a mediocre Grand Canyon team, sweeping them both nights. This is looking like one of those cases where even if they’re not the favorite to come out of the MIVA — and I’ll say it plainly: they’re not — you can’t be stupefied in surprise if they do end up making it to Pauley at season’s end. There’s no denying that this is a quality team. One match for the Ramblers this week, home Saturday against….
9. Ohio State. The Buckeyes participated in the MIVA/Carolina challenge this week, with a sweep win over Mount Olive and a four-setter over Lees-McRae. Those are matches you really would expect them to win, so they’re not gonna get upped in my vote. Next week stands to have a big MIVA shakeup, though. If you’ve been following along, you know that Ohio State have probably the biggest road trip of their season facing them this week, Thursday/Saturday at Lewis and Loyola.
10. Cal Baptist. I’m not drinking the same Kool-Aid the AVCA voters are to have the Lancers at a single-digit rank (though, as you’ve read, I’ve got my own flavour Kool-Aid. And boy is it yummy!), but you can’t state this season for them as anything but an unqualified, wild success. Wins this week for CBU over USC and over Pepperdine. If they were eligible for the MPSF postseason, they’d be in it. Can’t be too bullish on their future with Levi Cabral graduating, but they’ve impressed this year, hopefully to the tune of making a name for themselves with recruits. It’s Senior Night in Riverside this Wednesday when CBU host UCSB, before they head out to UCLA the next night.
11. Stanford. Whatever the cure for the Cardinal’s ills is, it sure wasn’t 19 days off. This past week they lost a straight-sets sweep to Northridge and a five-setter to Long Beach State, both at home. After for weeks and weeks appearing to be a potential, if darkhorse, national championship contender, Stanford now face the possibility of missing the MPSF tournament altogether. It’s unlikely — they need just one more win to clinch a berth, and still have lowly Pacific and UC San Diego on their schedule — but it’s a pretty bad tailspin. They’ve got a busy week ahead of them, Tuesday/Friday/Saturday road matches with Pacific, UCI, and UCSD.
12. Penn State. The Nittany Lions had one of their first genuinely good weeks in quite some time, scoring a pair of hard-fought road wins against solidly decent teams. They defeated Princeton in four sets and George Mason in five. These victories clinch the EIVA outright for the Lions, though that’s less an accomplishment than a birthright. It’s another ‘no-win situation’ week for PSU this coming, as their lone match is Friday against Lees-McRae.
13. CSU Northridge. The Matadors turned a minor upset and then suffered one of their own this past week, sweeping aside Stanford as mentioned before a four-sets loss to Pacific. It’s tough to project this team to do anything great in the MPSF’s. They’ll be seeded somewhere around 6-8, and they’re capable of turning an upset in that range, but as always, recognizing it as possible and actually expecting it are wildly different things. The Matadors have already had their Senior Night, so it’s two more on the road for them this week, Thursday/Saturday at Pepperdine and USC. Like the Cardinal, CSUN have not yet clinched an MPSF tournament berth, but also like Stanford they will do so with just one more win.
14. Ball State. The Cardinals’ winning ways continue, taking two sweeps in the MIVA/CC challenge, defeating Limestone and Pfeiffer. It’s shaping up to be a nice season for the Cardinals, and that’s all this range of the poll really means. Nobody here is a national title contender. Friday/Saturday for Ball State this week at Quincy and Lindenwood.
15. Princeton. The Tigers are probably the best bet for an EIVA team to nip PSU and crash the party in LA, after the rather precipitous fall from grace of their Ivy League brothers Harvard. This past week they swept aside St Francis and lost the aforementioned competitive four-setter with Penn State. They got a big lift in the return of 2012 EIVA Freshman of the Year Cody Kessel, who had missed a month’s worth of matches with a hand injury. This week Princeton have a Friday/Saturday with Harvard and Sacred Heart.
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