West Region Top 10 (3/16/21)

Minor changes this week in the West Region Top 10. Here is the ranking:

My Rank, (my rank last week), record, key results last week

1 (1) Colorado College 8-0 W: Southwestern (2); L: None. 2 (2) UT-Dallas 8-0 W: Louisiana Col. (2); L: None. 3 (3) Trinity 6-2 W: Centenary (2); L: None. 4 (4) Whitworth 8-2 W: Puget Sound (2); L: Puget Sound. 5 (5) Mary Hardin-Baylor 9-1 W: Concordia, Sul Ross (2); L: Concordia. 6 (6) McMurry 8-2 W: HSU (4); L: None. 7 (7) Pacific 3-0 W: George Fox; L: None. 8 (NR) Concordia 6-2 W: UMHB, HPU (2); L: UMHB. 9 (8) Pacific Lutheran 6-4 W: Whitman; L: None. 10 (9) LeTourneau 10-3 W: ETBU (2), Louisiana Col.; L: Louisiana Col. Dropped Out: St. Thomas

One problem I have this week is that I fell in love with George Fox (again). They have played one DIII match and lost but their P/S were 16.6. Even with a 15-point possible set five, they still averaged 16.6. I wanted to use the eye test when doing these rankings but it’s not fair when I can’t see every team as my time has been limited. So GFU does not make the list, but if they decide to win a match, look out.

Not much changed this week. I decided to drop St. Thomas due to their Dallas loss and their P/S standing (they sit 13^th). The top 7 stayed the same although I struggled with Pacific. On the one hand they beat a team I really liked in GFU. On the other hand, the win lowered their P/S standing to 15^th! Their future results will handle things but I decided not to move them up or down this week. I moved Concordia into the rankings on the strength of their UMHB win and their 8^th place standing in P/S. Take away that HSU loss and they would be in my Top 5. PLU slips a spot and I think I will struggle to keep them in the rankings in the coming weeks. They have two more matches with Whitman and they really need to end strong. (In the sense that my rankings actually mean something.) LETU losing to Louisiana College is troubling. I’m also not sure that having 5 ASC teams makes sense. For this week, they hang on.

Looking at the teams with the best records that didn’t make the rankings we find Lewis & Clark (3-0), St. Thomas (5-1) and Austin College (6-2). Teams in my Top 10 in P/S that didn’t make the rankings are George Fox (3^rd) and Lewis & Clark (9^th). Small sample size for George Fox as they only have one 5-set DIII match under their belt. I guess this makes L&C my bubble team.