NCAA | Dave Shoji: the NCAA “disrespected” Hawai’i’s athletes

Legendary coach reacts to tournament committee’s decision not to seed the Rainbow Wahine

For most of the week, Hawai’i coach Dave Shoji stewed in silence.

NCAA | Washington volleyball jumps to #7 in week 3 coaches’ poll

Washington (6-0) moves up five places; 4 Pac-12 teams in top 8

The weekly coaches’ poll is conducted by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).

Worth noting:

• Penn State defeats both Texas and Stanford at home, yet remains ranked behind Nebraska. Two weeks ago, the Cornhuskers barely held off UCLA at home, but have otherwise played a far weaker schedule than the Nittany Lions.
• Oregon defeats last week’s #10 Kentucky,(after earlier beating Ohio State) but voters still rank Ducks below Dayton, Purdue and two-loss Stanford. Hard to understand the continued attraction for Iowa State (2-3)and Illinois (2-3).

NCAA | How the Top 20 fared

How the Top 20 fared, August 27- September 2, 2012

Washington's Lianna Sybeldon
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

#4 Penn State had a great weekend, knocking off #8 Stanford and #2 Texas, both at home.

#6 Hawai'i dropped a stunner in Honolulu to struggling Cal.

#7 Purdue was creamed by #11 Washington, and barely got past Rice.

#10 Kentucky lost to Louisville, and was then demolished by #17 Oregon.

#15 Tennessee was handled by undefeated, but unranked BYU.

#16 Iowa State and #19 Illinois played each other twice, and split the two matches.

#20 Florida couldn't keep up with either #2 Texas or #8 Stanford.

Washington remains #10 in coaches' poll; UCLA is new #1

All of last week’s top 5 lost, so coaches in this week's AVCA poll vaulted #6 UCLA to the top spot. Worth noting that UCLA’s three losses are to unranked Arizona (Washington swept the Wildcats this season), to #14 Pepperdine and to Washington. The Huskies and Bruins square off in LA this weekend.

Seven different teams received first-place votes this week, which could be a record.

Easy to spot the coaches who don’t really treat the poll seriously: Someone voted Illinois #1 after it lost again, this time at home to 13-8 Minnesota. Someone else voted for Penn State, despite its five losses this season. And there are two first-place votes for Hawai’i, which mostly plays teams that would have a hard time cracking the top 50.

Florida did not drop far enough, after losing twice this weekend. At a minimum, they should be below Kentucky, which beat Florida just yesterday and has a better overall record.

Rank	School (First-Place Votes)	Total Points	2011 Record	Last Week
1	UCLA (41)	1457	20-3	6
2	Nebraska (9)	1386	18-2	1
3	Stanford (1)	1323	17-4	5
4	Southern California (5)	1306	18-4	4
5	Illinois (1)	1245	21-2	3
6	Penn State (1)	1218	17-5	8
7	California	1179	21-4	2
8	Hawai'i (2)	1112	24-1	7
9	Texas	1027	15-4	9
10	Washington	941	18-4	10
11	Purdue	893	20-3	11
12	Northern Iowa	843	24-1	12
13	Iowa State	735	17-4	14
14	Pepperdine	655	17-5	18
15	Minnesota	630	13-8	15
16	Tennessee	578	20-3	20
17	Florida	542	17-5	13
18	Florida State	460	19-4	19
19	Kentucky	390	21-4	24
20	Oregon	372	14-7	16
21	San Diego	327	23-3	17
22	Ohio State	170	16-9	23
23	Michigan	146	16-8	22
24	Colorado State	133	17-4	25
25	Oklahoma	105	19-6	21

How the Top 20 fared: Friday, October 28, 2011

An exciting night of volleyball, as big-time teams went head-to-head.

Stanford's easy victory over USC was my biggest surprise; I also figured Cal would beat UCLA (they didn't.)

Florida's loss (again) to Tennessee proves the SEC is no longer Snow Gator and the 11 dwarfs ... and tonight's match at 20-4 Kentucky could be a barn-burner.

As usual, Minnesota under-performs against weaker teams (losing to Northwestern), but could still threaten #3 Illinois tonight.

1	Nebraska (18-1)
	W	@ #23 Ohio St (15-9)	(19-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-17)
		@ #8 Penn St (16-5)	[10/29]
2	California (21-3)
	L	#6 UCLA (19-3)	(17-25, 25-20, 17-25, 16-25)
		#4 USC (17-4)	[10/29]
3	Illinois (21-1)
	W	Wisconsin (13-10)	(25-21, 20-25, 25-17, 25-20)
		#15 Minnesota (12-8)	[10/29]
4	USC (17-4)
	L	@ #5 Stanford (17-3)	(18-25, 14-25, 23-25)
		@ #2 California (21-3)	[10/29]
5	Stanford (17-3)
	W	#4 USC (17-4)	(25-18, 25-14, 25-23)
		#6 UCLA (19-3)	[10/29]
6	UCLA (19-3)
	W	@ #2 California (21-3)	(25-17, 20-25, 25-17, 25-16)
		@ #5 Stanford (17-3)	[10/29]
7	Hawai’i (23-1)
	W	@ Fresno St  (10-12)	(25-20, 25-18, 23-25, 25-18)
		@ Nevada (4-16)	[10/29]
8	Penn St (16-5)
	W	Iowa (11-13)	(25-23, 18-25, 25-16, 25-20)
		#1 Nebraska (18-1)	[10/29]
9	Texas (15-4)
	W	#14 Iowa St (16-4)	(25-14, 28-26, 25-21)
10	Washington (17-4)
	W	Arizona St (5-16)	(25-20, 22-25, 25-14, 22-25, 15-13)
		Arizona (14-8)	[10/30]
11	Purdue (19-3)
	W	@ #22 Michigan (15-8)	(20-25, 25-14,  20-25, 25-22, 18-16)
		@ Michigan St (17-6)	[10/29]
12	N Iowa (23-1)
	W	@ Missouri St (15-7)	(24-26, 22-25, 25-21, 25-11, 15-12)
		@ Wichita St (13-7)	[10/29]
13	Florida (17-4)
	L	@ #20 Tennessee (19-3)	(15-25, 25-17, 23-25, 21-25)
		@ #24 Kentucky (20-4)	[10/30]
14	Iowa St (16-4)
	L	@ #9 Texas (15-4)	(14-25, 26-28, 21-25)
15	Minnesota (12-8)
	L	@ Northwestern (12-10)	(23-25, 23-25, 21-25)
		@ #3 Illinois (20-1)	[10/29]
16	Oregon (14-7)
	L	Utah (9-14)	(25-13, 22-25, 26-28, 25-17, 8-15)
		Colorado (5-17)	[10/30]
17	San Diego (22-3)
	L	@ #18 Pepperdine (15-5)	(20-25, 17-25, 17-25)
	L	Saint Mary’s (11-12)	(25-17, 25-27, 22-25, 25-21, 10-15)
		San Francisco (13-9)	[10/29]
18	Pepperdine (16-5)
	W	#17 San Diego (22-2)	(25-20. 25-27, 25-17)
	W	Gonzaga (7-14)	(25-17, 25-14, 25-23)
		Portland	[10/29]
19	Florida State (17-4)
	W	Virginia Tech (13-9)	(25-21, 25-23, 25-12)
		Virginia (8-13)	[10/30]
20	Tennessee (19-3)
	W	#13 Florida (17-4)	(25-15, 17-25, 25-23, 25-21)
		South Carolina (11-10)	[10/30]