Pepperdine climbs to No. 8 in new national media poll

Pepperdine is back in the national media poll.

The Waves after a three-week hiatus from the top-10 rankings jumped to No. 8 in the latest Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Media Poll that was released Tuesday.


Outside attacker Michael Wexter finished with a team-high 15 kills on a .429 attack percentage and 12 digs to help Pepperdine defeat Stanford in four games on Saturday. This was the Waves second straight MPSF victory and moved the team into tie for sixth place in the conference.

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The top-half of the media poll remained unchanged from last week.

Ohio State received the majority of first-place to stay atop the national rankings. In addition, Long Beach State earned three first-place votes and finished at No. 2, while BYU received the only other first-place vote and was ranked No. 3.

Along with these teams, Hawai’i and UC Irvine round-out the top five.

The Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Media Poll is the only rankings in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball solely determined by media members. The 10 teams receiving the most votes are ranked in the National Media Poll, while other schools earning votes but finishing outside of the top 10 are considered teams receiving votes.

Off the Block is a website that started in January 2011 and has become the nation’s leader in college men’s volleyball coverage. Springbak, Inc. is the official sponsor of the National Media Poll and produces high performance footwear used by professional athletes from the NFL, NBA, MLB and U.S. Olympic teams and the top college teams in the nation.

OFF THE BLOCK/SPRINGBAK, INC. NATIONAL MEDIA POLL (Week 11)
1. Ohio State — 114 (8) points
2. Long Beach State — 110 (3) points
3. BYU — 100 (1) points
4. Hawai’i — 78 points
5. UC Irvine — 72 points
6. UCLA — 61 points
7. Lewis — 49 points
8. Pepperdine — 25 points
9. USC — 15 points
10. Stanford — 13 points
Others receiving votes: Loyola 9; Ball State 7; Grand Canyon 6; NJIT 1