Kennesaw State, Rice get into VBM Mid-Major Poll, BYU stays No. 1

Kennesaw State leaped into this week’s VolleyballMag.com Mid-Major Poll presented by the NIVC, taking the 24th spot. Rice is also in at No. 25.

BYU remained No. 1, but No. 2 Creighton and No. 3 San Diego traded spots.

Cal Poly stayed at No. 4, as did Western Kentucky at No. 5 and Wichita State at No. 6. But Northern Iowa moved up a notch to seventh, trading places with No. Colorado State.

The biggest jump was by VCU, going from No. 25 up to 21st. Towson, which took its first loss after starting 16-0, dropped out.

The VolleyballMag.com Mid-Major Poll includes all teams not in the “power-five” conferences (ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12).

The National Invitational Volleyball Championship (Nov. 26-Dec. 12, 2017) will be an annual tournament involving 64 of the nation’s top women’s Division I Volleyball teams. All games, including the semifinals and championship, are hosted by participating schools. Every round is single elimination. The event offers 32 automatic berths, one to each established conference, and 32 at-large berths. The NIVC field and bracket is announced late on the evening of the NCAA Tournament selections. The NIVC is committed to offering deserved opportunities to women’s volleyball programs; the event offers teams an opportunity to get more practices in, to experience playoff-atmosphere games, to play in front of passionate fans and to use their NIVC success and experience as a springboard to the next season.

Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Illinois State 22; Portland State 21; Central Arkansas 20; Portland 17; Princeton 14; Pepperdine 12; Southern Miss 11; Towson 10; James Madison 9; North Dakota State 7; High Point 4.
There were 12 teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of 46 combined points.
Dropped Out: Towson 23;

Previous polls: August 29, September 5,  September 12, September 19, September 26

The pollsters: Kristin Belzung, Stony Brook; Keylor Chan, Samford; Dietre Collins-Parker, San Diego State; Dan Conners, UC Davis; Steve Florio, Fort Wayne; Matt Ginipro, Appalachian State; Greg Goral, Campbell; Kris Grunwald, Connecticut; Tom Hanna, Akron;  Tommy Harold, Nicholls State; Venessa Hackett Jacobs, Southern; Justin Ingram, UIC; Mike Jordan, New Mexico State; Frank Lavrisha, San Francisco; Steve Loeswick, North Florida; Don Metil, Towson; Kent Miller, Saint Louis; Anna Moreno Allison, Bucknell; Jennifer Petrie, San Diego; Kadie Platt, Houston; Mark Pryor, North Dakota; Dave Rehr, Arkansas State; Kari Thompson, Southern Illinois-Carbondale; Jennifer Weiss, Harvard; Arlisa Williams, Georgetown; Sam Wolinski, Eastern Illinois.

About Triple Crown Sports: Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, Triple Crown Sports has been producing events in youth athletics and the college ranks for more than 30 years. TCS runs both the preseason and postseason WNIT basketball events and produces the men’s and women’s Cancun Challenge tournaments in November, which have been recognized by Sports Illustrated as a top-5 destination tournament for D-I basketball programs. Triple Crown is also rolling out a new “WNIT” concept in D-I volleyball (the NIVC), beginning in 2017, and launched a similar event in D-I softball (the National Invitational Softball Championships) in spring 2017. TCS youth fast-pitch tournaments (including the 900-team Sparkler/Fireworks event) draw the nation’s finest club programs, and hundreds of college coaches attend this TCS event and others for recruiting purposes.

Triple Crown also operates one of the top club volleyball events in the country, the TC Volleyball NIT, which hosts more than 400 of the top teams in the country and is played at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.