Fun | Volleyball Trick or Treat

(1) Best costume (2) Ducks on the Needle?

Pac-12 | Pac-12 Power Rankings: Week Ten

Secret revealed: How to be named Pac-12 Player of the Week

[11.01.12 | CORRECTED VERSION: Correcting name in photo caption to Lianna Sybeldon]

NCAA | Washington Volleyball 8th in media poll, 14th in RPI

Five Pac-12 teams in top eight

Reporters mirrored coaches in the October 30, 2012 Volleyball Magazine media poll. Both placed the same schools in their respective Top 20s, and the top 13 were identical.

Meanwhile, the NCAA’s RPI continues to baffle. The top five teams in the Pac12 are a collective 84-3 against all other opponents (not counting, of course, when they play each other. (Early in the season, UCLA barely lost in 5 at Nebraska, Stanford barely lost in 5 at Penn State, and Stanford lost in 4 at Hawai’i.)

84-3. They pretty much only lose to each other. 

NCAA | Pac-12 continues to dominate week 10 coaches’ poll

Washington (17-4) hangs in at eighth

Washington's Cassie Strickland
-courtesy Shutter Geeks Photography

For the fifth week in a row, five Pac-12 teams are among the top seven in the weekly coaches’ poll is conducted by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).

The Pac-12 takes over the top two spots this week, and deservedly so. That said, Stanford still has to play Oregon (this week), UCLA and USC on the road, plus Washington at home. The imbalanced Pac-12 schedule means that Oregon meets UCLA and USC only once each this season and next.

Nebraska beats Penn State and is ranked lower than the Nittany Lions? Yes, the Huskers also lost to Ohio State, but still …

Most under-rated this week: BYU and Miami (FL)

Most over-rated: Hawai’i (still no road matches against a top team), Dayton (two biggest wins are against unranked teams), and Ohio State (7 losses is too many for the Top 20)

Pac-12 | What we learned from Washington’s loss to UCLA

#6 UCLA 3, #5 Washington 1 (25-18, 25-22, 22-25, 28-26)

next: Colorado @ Washington | November 2 | 6PM

[10.29.12 | 10:00PM | CORRECTION to number of sets lost by just two points (5 not 4)]

Yes, Washington has now lost 4 of 5 after winning its first 16 in a row.

But all four losses were (a) crazy close; and (b) to the other four members of the Pac-12’s Fab Five (Stanford, Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington).

Amanda Gil and Kelcey Dunaway
-courtesy Shutter Geeks Photography

Before we move on, consider:

NCAA | How the Top 20 fared

Washington's Kelly Holford
-courtesy Shutter Geeks Photography

How the Top 20 fared, October 22-28, 2012

Several upsets this week, none of them earthshaking:

• #1 Penn State lost to #4 Nebraska (2-3)
• #4 Nebraska lost to #20 Ohio St (1-3)
• #5 Washington lost to #6 UCLA (1-3)
• #5 Washington lost to #7 USC (2-3)
• #11 Florida lost to #12 Florida St (0-3)
• #18 Kansas lost to unranked Iowa St (1-3)

Worth noting:

• #14 San Diego lost back-to-back 5-set squeakers, last week to St. Mary’s, this week to Santa Clara (13-15 in both fifth sets). In the past month, Santa Clara (17-8) has defeated Pepperdine, BYU and San Diego, all top-20 teams at the time.

Pac-12 | What we learned from Washington’s loss to USC

#7 USC 3, #5 Washington 2 (23-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 15-10)

next: #5 Washington @ #6 UCLA | October 28 | 12PM | Pac12 Networks

The stat sheet is a mess.

Washington's Amanda Gil had 15 block assists
and 6 kills against USC
-courtesy Shutter Geeks Photograpahy

If you look only at USC’s side of the ledger, you might assume the Trojans won in a rout.

• USC, ranked #7, was 19-3 and playing at home.
• Freshman sensation Samantha Bricio had 30 kills, a career high.
• Sara Shaw (15) and Katie Fuller (12) combined for another 27 kills.
• USC had a whopping 107 digs, led by Natalie Hagglund’s 34, a career high.
• Shaw added 30 digs, a career high (previous: 19).
• USC held Washington star Krista Vansant to a .150 hitting average; for the season, she hits .329.
• Vansant was forced to take 80 swings, a career high (previous: 59).
• Washington’s usually-powerful right-side attack was shut down; Kylin Muñoz had 4 kills and 4 errors on 26 swings (.000), and Kaleigh Nelson had 8 kills, 3 errors on 29 attacks (.172).
• The Huskies had 14 service errors against just 3 aces. Vansant (4) and Muñoz (3) led the way in errors.

Add it up, and you have all the ingredients of a 3-0 USC win.

Except that didn’t happen. Washington won two of the first three sets, and was down just 21-22 in the second. The Huskies led the fourth set 20-18, and trailed in the fifth just 10-11.

Pac-12 | Pac-12 Power Rankings: Week Nine

Fab Five and the Seven Dwarfs

At the halfway mark, the Pac-12’s top five teams remain undefeated against the bottom seven.

That fact explains why the Fab Five remain among the top seven in the national polls (if not the head-scratching RPI).

It also may explain why the Pac-12 might pack no more than five entries into the 2012 Tournament. The team with the next-best overall record at this point is Arizona State (14-9), a team that has dropped six of its past seven matches.

NCAA | Washington Volleyball 5th in media poll, 8th in RPI

-Volleyblog Seattle photo
by Leslie Hamann

Five Pac-12 teams in top seven

Once again, Penn State got all ten first-place votes in the October 23, 2012 Volleyball Magazine media poll.

Meanwhile, the NCAA’s RPI continues its tradition of utterly absurd results.

Louisville has more losses than Washington, has just one quality win all season (against Purdue), and plays the likes of South Florida, Rutgers and Connecticut in the Big East Conference. Washington also beat Purdue (more convincingly), has beaten UCLA and USC, and plays in the Pac-12. So why is Louisville ranked ahead of Washington? 

For that matter, why is Minnesota ranked higher? Its four losses came against top teams; Washington’s two losses also came against top teams. (And, yes, Minnesota also beat Purdue.)

 Go figure.

Volleyblog Seattle	RPI	AVCA Coaches’ Poll	VBM Rank	School
1	2	1	1	Penn State (10)
2	1	2	2	Stanford
3	6	3	3	Oregon
4	3	4	4	Nebraska
5	11	5	5	Washington
6	5	6	6	UCLA
7	14	7	7	USC
8	4	8	8	Texas
16	18	9	9	Hawaii
9	9	10	10	Minnesota
10	10	11	11	Florida
11	13	12	12	Florida State
17	7	13	13	Louisville
15	19	14	14	San Diego
14	12	16	15	Kansas State
20	38	15	16	Dayton
19	30	19	17	Western Kentucky
13	8	17	18	Kansas
12	15	18	19	BYU
NR	22	20	20	Ohio State

Others receiving votes: Purdue, Miami, Iowa State, Pepperdine, Michigan State

Volleyblog Seattle is one of ten national voters in the weekly poll.

Voters for this poll are made up of coaches, media and sports information directors from across the country. It will be published weekly each Tuesday leading up to the NCAA Tournament and then a final poll after the NCAA Championship.

NOTES:

For a different take on the national rankings, don’t miss the North Pole Poll, produced each week by the Penn State Volleyball blog, DigNittanyVolleyball.

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WRITTEN BY: Jack Hamann | PHOTOGRAPHY: Leslie Hamann

www.nolittlethings.com

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