D3VbWest Top 25 2025-Wk2

We are here with the Week 2 rankings. We have multiple data points and some things are clearer but the core issue is that we probably have too many teams that need to be ranked. I feel more comfortable moving teams around but I’m also confident really good teams are being left out. It’s interesting to note that through yesterday, there are 40 teams with an undefeated record out of 413 teams listed or just under 10%. I wonder if we still have that one coach that votes by record only? No interest in who teams played. It would be nice to have that mindset with this although seeing the world in just black and white is strange. It’s the gray that’s fun. Embrace the gray!

Here are my rankings:

My rank, (my previous rank, AVCA rank), record; key results; Points/Set.1 (1, 6) UW-Oshkosh 9-0; W: WashU, Emory, CMS; 18.77. 2 (15, 1) Juniata 6-0; W: Marietta, Ithaca; 17.30. 3 (2, 4) Johns Hopkins 6-0; W: None; 19.0. 4 (3, 11) East Texas Baptist 8-0; W: UWEC; 16.96. 5 (5, 2) UW-Whitewater 7-0; W: Berry; 17.82. 6 (6, 7) La Verne 6-0; W: None; 17.14. 7 (7, 19) Colby 5-0; W: None; 18.13. 8 (8, 9) Washington & Lee 7-0; W: None; 15.55. 9 (9, 5) Emory 5-1; W: CMS L: UWO; 17.86. 10 (10, 20) UW-Eau Claire 6-1; W: Chicago; 17.15. 11 (11, 13) UW-Platteville 4-1; W: Cornell Col; 16.29. 12 (12, 12) Trinity 5-1; W: CNU; 18.05. 13 (14, 16) Illinois Wesleyan 6-0; W: Southwestern; 17.75. 14 (13, 8) MIT 6-0; W: None; 18.32. 15 (16, 25) Otterbein 7-0; W: Centre; 17.58. 16 (NR, RV) Dubuque 8-0; W: Cornell, St Olaf, Northwestern; 16.69. 17 (18, 10) WashU 6-1; W: CMS L: UWO; 16.18 18 (17, 14) Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 3-3; W: None L: UWO, Emory, WashU; 17.35. 19 (19, 15) Marietta 5-1; W: Ithaca L: Juniata; 16.20. 20 (22, RV) Franklin & Marshall 6-0; W: None; 18.68. 21 (4, 3) Hope 4-1; W: OWU L: Denison; 16.00. 22 (24, RV) Carnegie Mellon 6-1; W: None; 17.46. 23 (25, 24) Berry 5-1; W: None L: UW-Whitewater; 16.09. 24 (21, 23) NYU 4-2; W: None; 17.53. 25 (NR, RV) Montclair State 6-0; W: None; 16.90.

Dropped Out: Christopher Newport (20) & Ithaca (23)

As always, a little bit about the teams dropping. Just too many losses for CNU to be ranked right now. Their schedule is tough so they can easily find their way back in. Ithaca’s best win is St John Fisher (which is a good win) and their two losses are also good (Juniata and Marietta). I just decided to move Montclair State in because they are undefeated with a nice win over Smith. I like Smith over St John Fisher so enough said on that. I thought about taking more teams out but I feel it’s so early that it would be a guess one way or another.

There are a number of undefeated teams I like. Just not enough to rank. Virginia Wesleyan really hasn’t played anyone. At least I think they haven’t. Who knows right now. I’m impressed with them but not enough to rank them, yet. I’m in the same camp with Saint Benedict although I might like their wins a tad better. Wheaton has only dropped one set but they also have more to prove to me. Eastern hasn’t dropped anything but still have a bit more than Wheaton to prove to me. I really like William Smith (who I had ranked in my preseason list). I also like Rose-Hulman. A team that is not undefeated but when they were was going to make my rankings was Denison. They are now 5-2 after dropping matches to Albion and Calvin. It does make that Hope loss all the more suspect now, which is why I dropped them so much this week. Albion is 5-1 but that loss to Wittenberg keeps them off for now. Calvin has their only loss to Dubuque and with them now ranked, they could make it. (They are probably next team up in my mind right now.)

Looking at the ranked teams, there really wasn’t a lot of movement through the first 10 teams. The exception is Juniata and Hope. Hope got bounced down (a lot) due to their Denison loss and then Denison losing two matches. Juniata continues to impressed beating two quality teams this week so up they go. I think UWO beats JC and I feel that UWO has played better teams which is the reason for the ordering here.

Johns Hopkins drops a spot. If I have an JHU parents reading this, I want you to blame Fred. It was strictly his fault.

ETBU also drops a spot and the real reason is that I had to find a home for Juniata as opposed to what JHU or ETBU did. Juniata just has played better teams so far this season. Rounding out the Top 5 is Whitewater who had a nice (close) win over Berry this week.

The next seven teams keep their spot so not a lot to talk about here. Emory took a loss but it was to UWO and they had a close win over CMS. That W&L Points/Set number is still scary low but we underestimated them last season and all they did was make the Elite 8. Fool me once…

Oh, I still have UW-Platteville over Trinity due to their head-to-head win if anyone is wondering about that. I got to see IWU in person this weekend and was very impressed. I would have loved to move them higher but there are so many good teams there. I went ahead and moved them ahead of MIT because Coach Paul Dill is a close personal friend and he was fine with it. Otterbein still looks great picking up an impressive win over Centre. Dubuque comes flying into the rankings at 16. No clue where they really belong but they have too many wins, no losses and some quality skins on the wall. Not much movement in this part of the rankings until we get to Hope. I did keep CMS at 18 even though they lost 3 matches. All three opponents are ranked higher and remember that all three matches were close affairs. I had more thoughts on CMS and NPI in my Weekly Wrap-up if you missed it.

Hope. Ah, Hope. I was worried about them during the preseason and had them ranked rather low but ranked because I respect the program. They had a good first week so up they went but they took that loss to Denison who then lost to Calvin and Albion. Coupled with that low Points/Set, I could have dropped them but, again, respect.

More teams with little movement after Hope but we do have Montclair State coming in at 25. I just wanted to show some love to a team that earned it. They have a good win against Smith, which was the tipping point in getting them on the rankings. As I mentioned earlier, Calvin (or just keeping Ithaca) were considered here.

As always, with a rankings this early in the season, I’m sure there is more wrong than right. I do find this exercise a tad fun right now but I know that this turns really tiresome in another 2 weeks. The AVCA will come out with their rankings tomorrow. In case you missed it, I have dropped the NPI Rankings, which is really the only rankings that matter because they are used for selection.

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