Lewis climbs to No. 1 in new RPI rankings

Photo courtesy of Lewis athletics

There is a new team atop a college men’s volleyball national ranking.

Lewis surpassed Hawai’i and moved to No. 1 in the latest RPI rankings that the NCAA released on Tuesday.

The MIVA regular season champions jumped one spot in the rankings after sweeping Ball State during the weekend to reach the conference tournament finals. The Flyers also are on an 11-match winning streak and have the 12th-best strength of schedule in the nation.

<

Hawai’i dropped three spots to No. 4 in the rankings. Despite having two wins versus UC Irvine during the weekend to end the regular season undefeated, those matches against the 2-13 Anteaters decreased the Rainbow Warriors’ strength of schedule.

A team’s RPI ranking is calculated using a mathematical formula that includes its winning percentage, strength of schedule and opponents’ strength of schedule.The RPI also is one of the criteria categories the selection committee uses to determine the NCAA Tournament field.

BYU, Daemen and D’Youville round-out the top five of the rankings.

Belmont Abbey, which won the ConfCarolinas championship on Sunday to clinch a berth to the NCAA Tournament, jumped five spots to No. 14 in the new RPI rankings.
A final RPI rankings before the seven-team NCAA Tournament will be unveiled on Sunday.

RPI rankings (April 19)

1. Lewis — .618
2. BYU — .613
3. Daemen — .604
4. Hawai’i — .603
5. D’Youville — .598
6. Penn State — .588
7. Loyola — .585
8. Ball State — .570
9. Mount Olive — .563
10. McKendree — .563
11. Ohio State — .555
12. Pepperdine — .555
13. UCLA — .551
14. Belmont Abbey — .549
15. NJIT — .547
16. George Mason — .541
17. UC Santa Barbara — .540
18. North Greenville — .538
19. Lincoln Memorial — .518
20. Queens — .509
21. Long Beach State — .509
22. Purdue Fort Wayne — .504
23. Grand Canyon — .500
24. Barton — .492
25. Emmanuel — .486
26. King — .483
27. Limestone — .478
28. UC San Diego — .466
29. Lindenwood — .461
30. Quincy — .448
31. UC Irvine — .447
32. USC — .434
33. Erskine — .428
34. CSUN — .427
35. Saint Francis — .426
36. Charleston — .425
37. Concordia-Irvine — .423
38. Stanford — .419
39. Lees-McRae — .401
40. St. Francis Brooklyn — .391
41. Tusculum — .384
42. Sacred Heart — .331
43. Alderson Broaddus — .208