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Two five-set losses last week have led to Hawaii dropping six place in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index and five places in the AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 poll released today.
The Rainbow Wahine (16-4, 5-3 Big West) lost to both Cal State Northridge and UC Davis on the road, losing consecutive conference matches for the first time since 1993. It is also the first time since 1994 that Hawaii has lost three matches in conference play.
The Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) is a computer-generated power ranking that measures wins, losses, strength of schedule and opponents’ strength of schedule, It is used by the NCAA selection committee for seedings and brackets of postseason tournament.
Hawaii was at No. 3 in the first RPI of the season two weeks ago and No. 10 last week following the five-set loss to UC Santa Barbara.
The Wahine have lost three of their last four matches.
In today’s RPI, Texas was No. 1 followed by Penn State, Florida, Washington and Stanford. Rounding out the Top 10 are Missouri, Creighton, USC, Wisconsin and Nebraska.
The top six teams in the AVCA poll remained the same, led by Texas (15-2), which received 43 of the 60 first-place votes. Penn State (18-2, 11 votes) was second followed by Washington (17-1, 6 votes), USC (18-3), Florida (20-2) and Stanford (15-4).
Missouri (25-0) jumped four spots to No. 7 while San Diego (17-3) moved up a spot to No. 8. Rounding out the Top 10 were Colorado State (19-0) and Minnesota (19-4).
