Off the Block

Tag: USC

  • What to know about recent No. 1 vs. No. 2 men’s volleyball matches

    Consider it the NCAA halfway championship match.

    The top two nationally ranked teams will play a two-match series this weekend in Los Angeles as USC and BYU remained No. 1 and No. 2 in the this week’s AVCA top 15 coaches poll and ASICS/Volleyball Magazine top 10 media poll.
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  • My men’s volleyball media poll ballot

    Sometimes change is not needed.

    With no upsets and all the top 10 ranked teams winning matches, it made my job as a voter easy this week. For the first time in my three years of voting in the men’s volleyball media poll, I have submitted identical top 10 ballot on back-to-back weeks.
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  • The top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

    Rematch is the theme of tonight

    All of the top five nationally ranked men’s volleyball teams are in action tonight, with three of them playing teams who they have previously defeated this season. However, as this season has already proved sometimes the most difficult thing to do is defeat a team multiple times in the same year.

    Check out the top five men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight.
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  • My men’s volleyball media poll ballot

    What a difference a year makes deciding who is No. 1 in the rankings.

    For most of last season there was a revolving door at the No. 1 spot with three teams having the top ranking by late February. However, this season USC has maintained the No. 1 spot since the preseason and is receiving all but one first-place vote in the coaches and media poll for the second consecutive week.
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  • The top 5 men’s volleyball stories of the week

    It’s your top five men’s volleyball story list, but with a twist.

    Every Sunday during the men’s volleyball season I will post the top five best men’s volleyball stories of the week from around the nation. The list, though, is based more on how well the reporter wrote and covered the story rather than just what happened on the court.
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  • Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

    There is only one match between two top 10 ranked teams tonight, but as today has shown rankings are not needed for intrigue.

    No. 9 Penn State this afternoon survived in five games against Lees-McRae, which was attempting to be the first team from the Conference Carolinas to defeat a top 10 ranked team. In addition, one week ago all five of the top ranked lost, with four of them losing to teams outside of the top 10.

    Check out the top five men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight.
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  • My men’s volleyball media poll ballot

    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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  • Scraping the wreckage of a historical upset Friday

    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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  • My men’s volleyball media poll ballot

    There isn’t a whole lot of question about who are the top four teams. USC, Stanford, BYU and Long Beach State have clearly established themselves as the four best teams in the nation during the first month of the season.

    However, the question who are the other six teams remains unsettled.

    Some teams such as a Ohio State have shown significant improvement since the start of the season, while teams like UCLA have struggled in recent weeks. These streaks continue to create a fluid voting ballot with the final few slots every week in the ballot feeling like a revolving door of teams.

    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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  • My men’s volleyball media poll ballot

    There are some weeks when you wish your ballot was larger to include more teams, and than there are some weeks like this one when you just can’t seem to find 10 teams who deserve to be in the top 10.

    The top teams in the nation have quickly emerged. USC is unanimously the best team in the country both on the court and in the media and coaches polls. In addition, Long Beach State, Stanford, BYU and UCLA have separated themselves as top tier teams in the MPSF, while Penn State remains the best team east of the Mississippi River.

    Everyone else still has a lot left to prove to be considered an elite team this season.
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