AVCA 2012 Week 8 poll: Wartburg knocking on door of top 10

Another week, another climb for Wartburg. No. 15 at the start of the month, the Knights are now No. 11 in the AVCA Week 8 poll. Wartburg was last in the top 10 in early October 2002.

Washington-St. Louis received 16 of 24 first-place votes and remains the top team in the country. No. 3 Wittenberg snagged the other six No. 1 votes. Calvin is sandwiched between those two. No. 4 Christopher Newport and Hope round out this week’s top five.

Big movers: On the heels of its five-set win over Otterbein, Mount Union vaulted four spots to No. 10, marking the Purple Raiders’ first entry in the top 10 in program history. Cortland fell five spots to No. 16 after a 4-1 week. No. 25 Saint Benedict finally reentered the poll for the first time since it lost to three regionally ranked teams in early September. The Blazers, 18-1 since the Augsburg invite (with their only loss in that time to St. Thomas), take the place of former No. 22 Southwestern, which went 2-2 last week.

My Week 8 top 10 is similar to the AVCA’s. I have the same teams but a slightly different order.

Other Central and Midwest teams in the Week 8 poll: No. 7 St. Thomas; No. 9 Elmhurst; No. 12 Chicago; No. 18 UW-Whitewater; No. 20 UW-Stevens Point. Receiving votes: Dominican; Carthage; UW-Platteville.

The Stars got eight votes. “Eight?” you may ask. From a combined 24 voters? Eight. From 24 voters. Granted, the loss to Benedictine didn’t help.

-Ricky Nelson