The Anteaters have gotta be wondering if it’s an April Fool’s joke. For the first time in a very long time, they’re not #1 nor #2 in a weekly poll. They’re actually not even #3. They slip to #4 this week after losing to UCLA and just barely beating UCSD. I guess the voters, on consensus, decided to hammer them for subpar home showings. Long Beach State, who I for weeks had at #2 when BYU and UCI were locked in at 1 and 2 in the real poll, surge to #2 this week despite a so-so week on their part, too. And talk about surging, UCLA were looking fair-to-middlin’ much of this season, but are now ranked #3.
No real shakeups the further down the poll. The voters value the middle of the MPSF better than the top of the MIVA, which….whatever. To whit, while Stanford (deservedly) fell from their 6th rank they held last week, they fell only to 8th and really didn’t come close to slipping past Lewis at #9. The lower-single digit ranks are mostly MPSF middle teams.
The lower reaches of the poll, ech. Loyola crawl up a rank to #13. That, I like. I also like that it comes at the expense of Hawaii. The part I don’t so much like is that Hawaii remain ranked, at #14. Seriously, I saw most of their season, and those two matches this past weekend were their absolute worst of the year, and at the most critical time. But, as I’ve said before, the double-digit ranks don’t really mean a whole lot in this poll. So a big, hearty WHATEVAH.
You can view the complete poll here.
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