McKendree jumps UC San Diego in Division II National Coaches Poll

Jonathan Bates | Off the Block associate editor

McKendree and UC San Diego have changed spots in the latest Off the Block/Springbak Division II National Coaches Poll that was released Tuesday morning.

McKendree following a victory against UC San Diego on Friday jumped one spot ahead of the Tritons to No. 3 in the new coaches poll.

The Bearcats have won their last three matches, including a conference victory against Quincy on Monday. The team’s competition will stiffen this weekend as it travels to Loyola on Friday and No. 1 Lewis on Saturday.

UC San Diego bounced back from its loss to McKendree to defeat No. 5 Lindenwood on Saturday. The Tritons start Big West play on Friday as they travel to UC Santa Barbara.

Lewis received eight of this week’s nine first-place votes. The team split its matches during the weekend — getting swept by Ball State and then rebounding to sweep Fort Wayne. The loss to the Cardinals ended their eight-match win streak.

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Lewis will continue conference play this weekend with home matches against Ohio State and McKendree.

No. 2 Concordia-Irvine received the other first-place vote in the media poll. It defeated Stanford in four games but was swept by BYU at home this weekend.

For the second time in three weeks, the Eagles will play three matches in three days. Concordia-Irvine will play host to Grand Canyon on Thursday, travel to USC on Friday and then return home to play CSUN on Saturday.

Rounding out the top-five is Lindenwood, which lost to both Ohio State on Thursday and UC San Diego at home on Saturday. The team continue its home stand this weekend versus Fort Wayne and Ball State.

Other teams receiving votes in the latest coaches poll were Charleston, Barton and King.

Both NCAA Division I and NCAA Division II men’s volleyball programs compete for the same national championship. The AVCA National Coaches Poll ranks the top 15 Division I-II men’s volleyball teams and is released each Monday during the regular season.

A national voting committee comprised of coaches from the more than 20 Division II teams determines the weekly rankings for the Division II National Coaches Poll.

Off the Block is a website that launched in 2011 and is the nation’s leader in college men’s volleyball coverage. Springbak, Inc. is the official sponsor of the Division II National Coaches 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.

The Division II National Coaches Poll will be released on the Off the Block website every Tuesday during the regular season.

Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Division II Coaches Poll

Rank Team Record Points Previous Trend
1 Lewis 9-4 44 (8) 1
2 Concordia-Irvine 6-5 37 (1) 2
3 McKendree 6-6 27 4 +1
4 UC San Diego 8-6 18 3 -1
5 Lindenwood 6-7 5 5

Others receiving votes: Charleston 2; Barton 1; King 1