Big shakeup after top five in VolleyballMag.com Mid-Major Poll

After a weekend of conference tournaments that provided great performances and produced some major surprises, there was, accordingly, quite a shakeup in the VolleyballMag.com Mid-Major Poll presented by the NIVC.

And speaking of the NIVC, the postseason tournament announced the first seven teams that have accepted bids.

Start with the rankings, where the first five in the VBM Poll — BYU, Creighton, Marquette, Cal Poly and UCF — stayed the same.

After that?

It was wide open.

Cincinnati jumped three spots to No. 6, Dayton — which won the Atlantic 10 — went up four notches to No. 7, San Diego dropped a spot to eighth, Denver — upset in the Summit League final by unranked South Dakota — fell three spots to No. 9 and Pepperdine — having to move its matches to UCLA — moved up five places to 10th. 

Other jumps up included Texas State up two spots to No. 15, FGCU up four spots to 20th after winning the ASUN, and the entry of Hofstra, which won the Colonial Athletic Association tournament.

Hofstra, which got votes last week, is in at No. 25. Western Kentucky and Austin Peay dropped out.

Next week’s poll will be the final VBM Mid-Major Poll of the season.

The first 13 spots in the AVCA Division I Coaches Poll stayed the same. UCLA dropped out and was replaced by Baylor at No. 25.

Amongst the mid-majors, unbeaten BYU remained No. 1 in the AVCA Poll. Creighton stayed at No. 9, Cal Poly is up two spots to No. 14, Marquette moved up a spot to 16th, and UCF stayed at No. 21.  

The NCAA also updated its RPI and it shows the all-important top four as Stanford, Minnesota, Texas and Illinois. The top four seeds in the NCAA Tournament that will be announced Sunday get to be regional hosts if they get through the first two rounds.

BYU is ranked No. 5, followed by Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, USC, Kentucky and UCF.

The seven teams that committed this week to the NIVC:
Alabama A&M (23-15, SWAC)
Appalachian State (22-8, Sun Belt)
Bowling Green (19-11, MAC)
Central Arkansas (26-6, Southland)
Fresno State (21-9, Mountain West)
Radford (21-6, Big South)
Tulane (24-8, American)

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 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

Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Tulane, 24; Western Kentucky, 24; Yale, 18; Austin Peay, 12; James Madison, 8; Miami (OH) 2. There were seven teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of 19 combined points.
Dropped Out: Western Kentucky 23; Austin Peay 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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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 35 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 produces the revived “WNIT” concept in D-I volleyball (the NIVC), which relaunched in 2017, and has operated a similar event in D-I softball (the National Invitational Softball Championships) in 2017 and 2018. 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.