Cincinnati, UCF move up in VBM Mid-Major Poll, Hawai’i, Saint Mary’s get in

Cincinnati, ranked No. 7, and UCF (Central Florida), ranked No. 8, both moved up a spot in this week’s VolleyballMag.com Mid-Major Poll presented by the NIVC.

The top six teams — unbeaten BYU, Creighton, Cal Poly, Marquette, Northern Iowa and Denver — all stayed the same.

The biggest jump was by Pepperdine, up from 22nd to No. 16

There were two new entries into the top 25, Hawai’i at No. 22 and Saint Mary’s at No. 23.

The AVCA Division I Coaches Poll had more movement after a week that included a fair number of upsets and surprises.

BYU, Stanford and Minnesota remained 1-2-3, but Penn State moved up five spots to No. 4. Nebraska remained fifth and the nation’s only other unbeaten team, Pittsburgh, stayed at No. 6.

New to the AVCA Poll this week is Kansas, in at No. 22.

Three teams from the VolleyballMag.com poll are in the AVCA top 25, Creighton at No. 10, Cal Poly at No. 12 and Marquette at No. 19.

Click here for the AVCA poll.

Also, the NCAA updated RPI shows a completely different look. Stanford is No. 1, followed by BYU, Illinois, USC and Pittsburgh. Other higher-ranked teams of note include Kentucky at No. 8, UCF at 13, Creighton at 20 and Dayton at No. 26. Dayton is No. 9 in the VBM poll, but not getting votes in the AVCA poll.

Click here for the latest NCAA RPI.

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

Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Texas State, 49; East Tennessee State, 46; James Madison, 35; UC Irvine, 25; Tulsa, 17; Austin Peay, 13; Fresno State, 8; Boise State, 7. There were five teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of 20 combined points.
Dropped Out: East Tennessee State (21), 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.