There wasn’t quite as big a shakeup as I was expecting.
Penn State remains number one, and only Oregon and Washington continue to receive first-place votes. I was curious which of the two undefeated Pac-12 schools would remain higher-ranked, well, the answer is…both of them! With 1412 points, they’re exactly tied for the #2 national ranking. Which is…kinda fitting, actually.
USC and UCLA didn’t fall that far. USC is now #5, UCLA #6, though I’d have put UCLA higher considering they showed much better against the UW Huskies last week. The margin is close, though, just 13 points separates the two teams. Seventh through tenth remain precisely the same as they were last week.
Only Tennessee dropped out of the poll. Pepperdine did take a tumble, but they remain ranked at #23. The new team with a number next to their name is Kansas, getting the #24 ranking ahead of Michigan State. To my great satisfaction, North Carolina State is now receiving votes as well as their rivals in Chapel Hill. Both schools deserve to be mentioned. Unsurprisingly, St. Mary’s made a huge leap. After not even being mentioned on last week’s poll, they’re now sixth in the ‘also receiving votes’ list. You can view the complete poll here.
On the Division II side, things mostly remained stable, with the big result from last week being Minnesota-Duluth’s four-set win over Concordia-St. Paul. This gives the Golden Bears a shocking (for them) third loss on the season. Amazingly, one poll voter still has them at the top of his or her rankings, but the other 31 quite rightly have the undefeated Nebraska-Kearney Lopers in the top spot. Just like their big sisters on the D-I side, the D-II top ten remains precisely the same in composition from a week ago, and it also has a tie. It’s for seventh in the D-II rankings, with Central Missouri and West Texas A&M both gaining 586 rankings points.
My Western Washington Vikings move up one rank, to #16 in the nation. No respect, I tells ya, no respect! After two ugly four-set losses, previously #18 Chico State falls all the way down into ‘also receiving votes.’ The new team in the top 25 is WWU’s archrival Central Washington, checking in at #25 in the nation.
You can view that complete poll here.
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