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Would you expect anything else: another weekend filled with upsets and surprised in college men’s volleyball.
Check out the top five things to take away from this weekend’s action.
1. Chaos in the upcoming rankings — Two of the top three nationally ranked teams lost during the weekend with No. 1 BYU losing to No. 6 Long Beach State on Friday and No. 3 Stanford losing to Hawai’i on Saturday. These losses could create a new No. 1 in the national rankings in the upcoming polls, and it’s even more likely that whoever is No. 1 will not be by unanimous consent.
2. Loyola captures Morgan Classic — Loyola swept Springfield in the Volleyball Hall of Fame Morgan Classic championship match Saturday to capture the school’s first tournament title since 2000. Outside attacker Joseph Smalzer in the victory had a match-high 15 kills, while outside attacker Thomas Jaeschke added 10 kills.
3. Ball State still perfect — Ball State remains the only undefeated team in the nation as it defeated Quincy and Lindenwood in conference play during the weekend. The Cardinals (7-0, 2-0 MIVA) are also off to their best start since 2006.
4. Mount Olive almost upsets Penn State — The Conference Carolinas went 0-4 versus the EIVA during the weekend, but the bright spot for the conference came with Mount Olive’s three-game loss to Penn State. The Trojans forced an overtime in the first game and lost the match by a combined eight points.
5. Pepperdine, UCLA bounce back — Two teams after suffering recent losses were able to get convincing MPSF victories during the weekend. Pepperdine following two losses to Hawai’i last week recovered to beat No. 8 USC on Friday, while UCLA days after losing at home to UC Irvine swept UC San Diego on Saturday.
BONUS HIT
Turn the lights out — Unlike the Super Bowl, no college men’s volleyball match this season has been delayed because the power went out in the arena. However, the sport did experience a similar delay in the 2006 NCAA Tournament semifinals between Penn State and UC Irvine when the power went out at Rec Hall late in the fifth game.