D3VbWest Top 25 (Week 9)

I’d like to say I didn’t spend a lot of time on this because, with regional rankings out, these don’t really matter. Unfortunately, I did spend more time than I wanted to but I don’t think it really mattered. Here are my rankings this week with explanations to follow.

My rank, (my previous rank, AVCA rank), record; key results; P/S (for/against).1 (1, 1) Juniata 25-0, W: None; 19.0/9.4. 2 (2, 2) UW-Oshkosh 29-0, W: UW-Platteville; 17.5/13.3. 3 (3, 3) Hope 23-2, W: UW-Whitewater, Calvin L: North Park; 17.77 /13.45. 4 (7, 5) Northwestern 23-3, W: None; 17.76/12.13. 5 (4, 6) UW-Whitewater 23-4, W: UW-Stevens Point L: North Park, Hope; 17.71/12.72. 6 (6, 7) Emory 18-1, W: Mary Washington; 17.60/12.77. 7 (10, 10) NYU 23-4, W: Salisbury, CNU; 17.68/13.28. 8 (5, 8) Johns Hopkins 20-4, W: VA Wesleyan L: Swarthmore; 17.77/12.41. 9 (14, 19) North Park 21-6 W: UW-Whitewater, Hope; 15.70/12.67. 10 (9, 14) Mt St Joseph 21-1 W: None; 16.92/12.99. 11 (11, 16) Transylvania 22-5 W: None; 16.55/15.26. 12 (12, 12) WashU 19-7 W: None; 16.57/15.65. 13 (8, 4) Claremont-M-S 17-5, W: None L: La Verne, Whittier; 18.4/13.1. 14 (13, 11) Trinity 25-4 W: None L: Colorado College; 17.48/14.16. 15 (15, NR) Ohio Wesleyan 20-5 W: None L: DePauw; 16.19/14.13. 16 (17, 9) Calvin 19-5 W: None L: Hope; 17.24/12.83. 17 (22, 13) Berry 21-4 W: Covenant; 15.94/14.84. 18 (18, 24) Ithaca 19-4 W: None; 17.48/12.41. 19 (20, 15) Wesleyan 19-1 W: None; 17.34/13.73. 20 (21, 21) La Verne 20-3 W: CMS L: Pomona-Pitzer; 17.59/13.06. 21 (24, 23) Cornell 18-6 W: None; 16.00/13.60. 22 (NR, 18) Gustavus Adolphus 22-6 W: None; 16.76/13.89. 23 (25, 22) Mary Washington 22-3 W: None L: Emory; 17.1/12.2. 24 (19, 25) Covenant 22-1 W: None L: Berry; 17.22/11.08. 25 (NR, 17) MIT 25-3 W: None; 17.50/12.19.

Dropped Out: Case Millikin (16) & Mount Union (23)

To start with, I’m not sure I can really justify some of the ordering here. What has happened is that we just have so many losses to deal with across the board (with apologies to Juniata and UWO) that things don’t come out clean.

I decided to drop Millikin and Mount Union. Both have suffered some recent losses and I figured there might be other teams more deserving. Now one of those teams I brought in was MIT so who knows. I think Wesleyan and MIT are the top teams in the New England regions although Springfield is right there, too. Springfield just seems to have a lower floor than MIT with the ceiling probably being equal. The other team was Gustavus Adolphus. Both teams have been in my rankings before and each is getting another chance. I looked at a ton of teams but so many losses to figure out. Bottom line, there are teams that are playing at a Top 25 level right now but weren’t at the beginning of the season. The corollary is also true and some are still ranked above.

I was asked this week which team I think will win the national championship. Just to destroy all chances of them doing it, I answered Oshkosh. I think Juniata is the safe choice and they will have a much easier path to the Elite 8. They will then get the 6^th seed but get matched up with either Wesleyan or MIT and cruise. It doesn’t look like Hope is getting Annie Lockette back this season so I don’t see them winning and I just think Juniata and Oshkosh are a tier above. I really do worry about the regional Oshkosh gets as they could have three brutal matches to get to the Elite 8. So, asking me again, I’ll answer Juniata but I think Oshkosh is the best team.

Despite the loss to North Park, I think Hope is still 3^rd. Should I penalize a team for a late loss after a great season and let a team with more losses pass them? I didn’t.

I moved Northwestern up to 4^th just because I think that’s probably where they belong. Recent results didn’t play a role in that decision. I did have North Park higher in the Top 10 after a great weekend but I felt I had to look at the entire season. That’s why you still see some of the same teams I’ve had in the Top 10.

NYU got a little boost. I didn’t like their early schedule and they did have that early loss to Ithaca but they’ve played well and deserved a boost.

CMS took a hit this week and I could have dropped them more. They are struggling if you watch them play right now. They have Top 5 talent but they aren’t playing like it. A few teams in this range had some interesting losses.

Berry got a bump with their Covenant win. Their Points/Set numbers are still very average but credit is given when credit is deserved.

Not sure what else to write about. Covenant stays but they really only have that Emory win.

I haven’t done Hitting Percentage in a bit so here you go. Remember, the champion has to be a team in the Top 11 based on history. Also remember that Ricky has his Top 10. He has WashU in for my Johns Hopkins, which is (upon reflection) not a bad idea. WashU beat JHU earlier in the year. That’s why he’s my leader.

Another reason to take Juniata over UW-Oshkosh (who is 14th 0.002 behind).