Everyone in the top five of the national rankings picked a good week to lose.
For the first time in NCAA men’s volleyball history, all five of the top ranked teams Friday lost on a single night. It was one of the biggest oddities in my time covering men’s volleyball and created an interesting situation for this week’s poll.
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The oddity of Friday night may be a first in the 41-year history of NCAA men’s volleyball.
All of the top five ranked teams in the ASICS/Volleyball Magazine Men’s Division I-II Media Poll — No. 1 USC, No. 2 Long Beach State, No. 3 BYU, No. 4 Stanford and No. 5 UCLA — lost Friday.
With a majority of the top 10 nationally ranked teams being in the MPSF, it is not unusual for one or two of the top five teams to lose a match during a weekend. However, I can never recall or find another incense when all five of the top ranked teams lost in a single day.
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Well it took a bunch of hours going over box scores, game articles and videos, but I finally have my first ballot of the year for the ASICS/Volleyball Magazine Men’s Division I-II Media Poll.
The first few weeks are always a little bit difficult to rank because you are still balancing preseason expectations with how the team is actually playing and who it has beat. Some teams like USC and Stanford have lived up to the preseason hype setting themselves above everyone else. While other teams like UC Irvine and Hawai’i are beginning to play well after horrific starts.
Check out this week’s top 10 men’s volleyball media poll and my ballot with explanations on why ranked each team where I did.
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