Winning consistency rules as top 15 repeats in VBM Mid-Major Poll

In a way, this is awfully surprising, considering how unpredictable NCAA Division I women’s college volleyball can be. But on the other hand, maybe we should have expected the stability of the top teams once again as the top 15 stayed exactly in order for the second straight week in the VolleyballMag.com Mid-Major Poll presented by the NIVC.

Give credit for maintaining a high level of play, especially to the top eight — San Diego, BYU, Cal Poly, Creighton, Western Kentucky, Wichita State, Colorado State and Missouri State — which have had incredible campaigns, especially since regular-season turned past the halfway point. For that matter, BYU and San Diego have just one West Coast Conference loss — to each other — Creighton has come back with a vengeance since its only Big East loss and Cal Poly, WKU, the Shockers and Missouri State are unbeatable in their respective conferences.

Accordingly, there was very little big movement amongst 16 through 24, although Lipscomb dropped out and Sacramento State made it back in at No. 25.

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: Lipscomb 32; Butler 23; Central Arkansas 20; Loyola Marymount 17; Radford 17; Texas State 8.
14 teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of 68 combined points.
Dropped Out: Lipscomb 21

Previous polls: August 29, September 5,  September 12, September 19, September 26, October 3, October 10, October 17, October 24, October 31

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.

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