Barton, McKendree tied for No. 2 in final Division II coaches poll of regular season

Jonathan Bates | Off the Block associate editor

Barton and McKendree having gone back and fourth for the No. 2 and the No. 3 spots in the Division II poll. In the final poll of the regular season, the Bulldogs and Bearcats are tied for the No. 2 spot.

No. 1 Lewis received all 12 first place votes this week, the tenth consecutive week they have done so.

The Flyers’ will be the No. 1 seed in the MIVA tournament that starts this Saturday, as they host the No. 8 seed, Quincy. Lewis, fresh off back to back sweeps this past weekend over Quincy and Lindenwood, will finish the season having won 15 of their final 16 matches. Setter Matt Yoshimoto ranks tops in the nation with 0.656 aces/game, while middle attacker Tyler Mitchem leads the nation with a 0.501 attack percentage.

Even though No. 2 Barton lost last Friday to the team that prevented them from securing the No. 1 seed in the 2018 ConfCarolinas tournament, the Bulldogs will be the No. 1 seed in this year’s conference tournament. Barton has won 15 of their final 16 matches. The Bulldogs will end the regular season tonight in a non-conference match versus Coker before hosting No. 8 seed, Erskine. A Barton player has won ConfCarolinas Player of the Week honors 8 out of 14 times this year, including five times by opposite, Angelos Mandilaris.

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No. 2 McKendree went #CincoSets in both of their matches last weekend – losing to Ball State but defeating Purdue Fort Wayne. With that win over the Mastadons, the Bearcats will be hosting a MIVA Tournament match at home for the first time in program history. On Monday, middle attacker Wyatt Dimke was named Off the Block’s National Middle Attacker of the Week for his combined 28 kills and 12 blocks over the weekend. McKendree will host the No. 5 seed, Ball State, on Saturday in the MIVA Tournament quarterfinals.

No. 4 Concordia-Irvine was swept by both UCLA and Pepperdine last weekend. Those loses combined with the Grand Canyon victory over BYU means the Eagles are the No. 7 seed in the MPSF Tournament. Concordia-Irvine will play No. 2 seed, UCLA, in the MPSF quarterfinals on Saturday. Libero Addison Enriques leads the MPSF with 2.10 digs/game.

No. 5 Lincoln Memorial was off last weekend after having won their final six matches of the regular season, and will host the IVA Tournament this weekend. Their first match in the IVA Tournament will be against Daemen. The Railsplitters rank second in the nation with 1.90 aces/game, and fifth in the nation with 2.51 blocks/game. Individually Lincoln Memorial is led by opposite Evan Cory who leads the team with 0.602 aces/game, 1.65 digs/game, and 4.05 kills/game.

King received seven votes, while Charleston and UC San Diego each received one vote.

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.

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

Off the Block Division II Coaches Poll

RankTeamRecordPointsPreviousTrend
1Lewis22-560 (12)1
T-2Barton21-4412
T-2McKendree12-12413+1
4Concordia-Irvine14-18204
5Lincoln Memorial16-795

Others receiving votes: King 7, Charleston 1, UC San Diego 1