Let’s face it: BYU, Creighton, Cal Poly, Marquette and Northern Iowa have set the bar for NCAA women’s Mid-Major teams this season.
And once again, they take spots 1 through 5 in the VolleyballMag.com Mid-Major Poll presented by the NIVC. Unbeaten BYU, also No. 1 in the AVCA Division I Coaches Poll, got all 25 first-place votes.
Denver moved up a spot to No. 6. Dayton is up one spot to seventh, while Cincinnati dropped two spots to No. 8. Loyola Marymount stayed at No. 9, while UCF (Central Florida) moved up four spots into a tie at ninth.
Two teams moved in this week, Pepperdine at No. 22 and Rice at No. 23. Hawai’i, Saint Mary’s and Lipscomb dropped out (there was a tie for 25th last week, so there were 26 teams in the poll).
In addition to BYU being No. 1 in both polls, Creighton is No. 10 in the AVCA poll, Cal Poly is up a notch this week to No. 12 in the AVCA, and Marquette is 19th.
The 2018 National Invitational Volleyball Championship marks the second year of the revival of a Division I “NIT” event designed to bring another postseason opportunity into the sport’s calendar.
In 2017, Ole Miss defeated Texas Tech to win the NIVC title. The 2018 NIVC field will feature 32-40 teams. They will be selected after the NCAA Tournament makes announces its 64-team field. The NIVC will award berths to other deserving programs based on multiple factors, including RPI, overall record, strength of schedule and more. Much like the WNIT basketball event, matches are held at the participating schools.
The field will be announced late Sunday evening, November 25, 2018. The first round will start Thursday, November 29, with the championship match on Tuesday, December 11.
Selection — November 25
Round 1 & 2 — November 29-30, December 1-2
Round 3 — December 5-7
Semifinals — December 7-9
Championship — Tuesday, December 11, 7 p.m. Eastern
| Rank | School | Total Points Adjusted | First-Place Votes Adjusted | Win/Loss Record | Previous Rank |
| 1 | BYU | 625 | 25 | 16-0 | 1 |
| 2 | Creighton | 594 | 0 | 14-4 | 2 |
| 3 | Cal Poly | 580 | 0 | 16-1 | 3 |
| 4 | Marquette | 547 | 0 | 14-4 | 4 |
| 5 | Northern Iowa | 522 | 0 | 12-6 | 5 |
| 6 | Denver | 463 | 0 | 16-1 | 7 |
| 7 | Dayton | 445 | 0 | 14-5 | 8 |
| 8 | Cincinnati | 420 | 0 | 14-4 | 10 |
| 9 | LMU | 405 | 0 | 15-3 | 9 |
| 9 | UCF | 405 | 0 | 14-3 | 13 |
| 11 | San Diego | 371 | 0 | 7-9 | 6 |
| 12 | Portland | 311 | 0 | 14-4 | 12 |
| 13 | Colorado State | 279 | 0 | 12-6 | 11 |
| 14 | Kennesaw State | 270 | 0 | 15-4 | 16 |
| 15 | Western Kentucky | 260 | 0 | 14-6 | 17 |
| 16 | Wyoming | 243 | 0 | 12-6 | 18 |
| 17 | Wichita State | 234 | 0 | 8-8 | 14 |
| 18 | Stephen F. Austin | 205 | 0 | 19-2 | 19 |
| 19 | Illinois State | 157 | 0 | 13-5 | 20 |
| 20 | College of Charleston | 140 | 0 | 13-7 | 15 |
| 21 | East Tennessee State | 124 | 0 | 16-4 | 21 |
| 22 | Pepperdine | 111 | 0 | 12-5 | NR |
| 23 | Rice | 91 | 0 | 14-4 | NR |
| 24 | Miami (OH) | 78 | 0 | 13-5 | 22 |
| 25 | Austin Peay | 60 | 0 | 16-2 | 25 |
Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Hawai’i, 44; Saint Mary’s (Calif.), 43; Texas State, 41; UC Irvine, 18; James Madison, 14; Lipscomb, 9; Tulsa, 8; Boise State, 7; Valparaiso, 5. Three teams were mentioned on one ballot for a total of four combined points.
Dropped Out: Hawai’i 24; St. Mary’s (Ca.) 22; Lipscomb 25;
The pollsters: Kristin Belzung, Stony Brook; Keylor Chan, Samford; Dietre Collins-Parker, San Diego State; Courtney Draper, USF; Steve Florio, Fort Wayne; Ray Gooden, NIU; Greg Goral, Campbell; Kris Grunwald, Connecticut; Ashli Hain, UCI Irvine; Tom Hanna, Akron; Venessa Hackett Jacobs, Southern; Justin Ingram, UIC; Mike Jordan, New Mexico State; Shaun Kupferberg, Howard; Frank Lavrisha, San Francisco; Aaron Mansfield, LMU; Don Metil, Towson; Kent Miller, Saint Louis; Anna Moreno Allison, Bucknell; Kaddie Platt, Houston; Mark Pryor, North Dakota; Dave Rehr, Arkansas State; Jim Smoot, Southeastern Louisiana; Kari Thompson, Southern Illinois-Carbondale; Jennifer Weiss, Harvard.
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