No huge surprises this week. BYU are the new #1 team in America, and they received all 16 first-place votes. There’s really no argument. Their only loss so far is a five-setter to Lewis that featured the match of a lifetime from one of Lewis’ front-line players. And it’s a match they probably should have won anyway. Though losing a 2-0 advantage stings, as moments of weakness go, that’s not a horrible one. Especially when compared to other teams’ poorer moments so far.
UC Irvine only fell to #3. I figured they’d slip a bit further. Battle-tested Pac-12 foes Stanford and UCLA are tied for fourth on 174 points in the poll. Along with BYU, Pepperdine and Long Beach State are the big gainers this week, each moving up two notches from last week’s poll. It’ll be a little interesting to see how this week’s results shape next week’s poll, because BYU are idle this week. Their next match isn’t until Friday next week, February 1. Will they again be unanimous #1? Probably. Poll voters in every sport have a certain “to be the man you gotta beat the man” (or have the man lose) mentality. But it’ll all the same be interesting to see.
Lewis cling to the poll at #15. They began to right the ship Saturday night with a five-set win over St. Francis to make them 2-5 on the year (the poll erroneously lists them as 3-5…they have played 7 matches), but it’s still an uphill battle for them to get back to the level that was expected of them entering the year. They’ve got the talent to do it, and they’ve been battling injuries, but still, their slothtacularly slow start is one of the real storylines of the season so far.
For the second week in a row, the same 15 teams are in the poll. No one dropped in or out. You can view the complete poll here.
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