NCAA | With two more victories Washington volleyball continues RPI climb

A week without upsets leaves coaches’ poll largely unchanged, but UW opponents boost Huskies’ RPI

The Washington Huskies, now 21-1, continue their slow climb up the NCAA’s RPI rankings. This week, UW is ranked #3, the same position they’re given by voters in the AVCA Coaches’ Poll.

Washington players celebrate against Colorado
-photo by Shutter Geeks Photography

The past week saw few upsets: #24 BYU lost to Santa Clara and #22 Florida State lost to Virginia Tech. Wisconsin somehow climbed two spots despite losing to #9 Nebraska. Purdue sticks around despite losing to reeling Ohio State. And both Michigan and Michigan State stay in the Top 25 despite being beaten by #25 Illinois (12-12.) Ah, that Big Ten magic.

For Washington fans, wins by Illinois and #21 Cal State Northridge actually help the Huskies’ RPI, which depends heavily on opponents’ win/loss records. Washington’s 21 victories this season include 8 wins against teams in the RPI’s Top 25.

Creighton and Marquette remain RPI enigmas, both playing in the lightly-regarded Big East Conference. Creighton took on a lot of nonconference powers, but lost to most of them. Impressive, but oddly still in the RPI Top 10. And Big Ten fans can’t be pleased that there are more SEC teams (3) than Big Ten teams (2) in that elite ten.

Finally, if the RPI is as predictable an indicator as it has been in previous seasons of which 16 teams will be seeded (and thus host the first two rounds,) then there is a growing crowd on the west coast: #3 Washington, #5 USC, #7 Stanford, #12 Hawai’i and #14 San Diego, with Cal close at #20. Hawai’i fans are probably already waiting for the bad news that they once again won’t be hosting …

This week’s AVCA poll and RPI, with Volleyblog Seattle’s ballot in the Volleyball Magazine media poll:

WEEK TWELVE

AVCA Coaches		RPI	School (First Place AVCA votes)	Volleyblog Seattle
This Week	Last Week
1	1	1	Texas (42)	3
2	2	2	Penn St (14)	2
3	3	3	Washington (4)	1
4	4	5	Southern Cal	4
5	5	4	Florida	7
6	6	7	Stanford	5
7	7	6	Missouri	6
8	8	14	San Diego	10
9	11	8	Nebraska	8
10	10	19	Colorado St	11
11	9	15	Minnesota	9
12	12	12	Hawai’i	12
13	15	17	Duke	13
14	16	16	Wisconsin	17
15	19	26	North Carolina	15
16	13	28	Michigan St	NR
17	20	9	Kentucky	17
18	14	32	Purdue	NR
19	17	29	Michigan	NR
20	22	20	California	20
21	23	37	Cal St Northridge	19
22	18	24	Florida St	16
23	24	13	Kansas	NR
24	21	30	BYU	14
25	NR	18	Illinois	NR
NR	25	23	Iowa St	NR
NR	NR	33	Oregon	NR
NR	NR	21	Oklahoma	NR
NR	NR	52	Central Arkansas	18
NR	NR	27	LSU	NR
NR	NR	25	Arizona	NR
NR	NR	10	Creighton	NR
NR	NR	11	Marquette	NR
NR	NR	22	Utah	NR

Others Receiving Votes and appearing on two or more AVCA ballots: Iowa State; Oregon; Marquette; Western Kentucky; Ohio; St. Mary's (CA); Arizona State; Arizona

see also: What we learned from Washington volleyball’s win over Arizona

---

Photos courtesy Shutter Geeks Photography