Unexpected? Probably not.
But somewhat surprising to most who have followed the Rainbow Wahine volleyball program for decades.
On Monday, Hawaii did not appear in the AVCA Coaches Top 25, the first time since the final four weeks of the injury-plagued 1992 season. The Wahine went 15-12 and did not make the postseason tournament for the only time in program history.
Hawaii’s third loss of the season, a sweep by then-No. 25 UCLA on Friday, resulted in the Bruins (6-2) replacing the Wahine at No. 22. With two previously unranked teams debuting in the poll — Texas A&M (7-1) at No. 21 and Loyola Marymount (9-0) at No. 23 — it pushed Hawaii just outside of the Top 25; the Wahine received 95 points, 22 fewer than No. 25 Michigan State (5-3), which fell two spots.
"Only someone’s opinion," said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji, who is not one of the 60 voters for a second consecutive year. "But all we can do is win as many as we can and maybe gain some respect back. Expected with three losses, but none of those were bad losses."
The three teams to defeat Hawaii this season at the Stan Sheriff Center — Arizona State, Oregon and UCLA — are a combined 22-3. The Ducks (8-0) moved up four spots to No. 14 and Arizona State (7-1) dropped three spots to No. 18 after a loss to Appalachian State (11-0) in the Louisville tournament.
UCLA (6-2) moved up three spots to No. 22. Both of the Bruins’ losses have been in sweeps on the road, at Loyola Marymount and to then-No. 1 Penn State at the the Pac-12/Big 10 tournament hosted by Stanford.
There was no change in the top five, led by Stanford (7-0) receiving 52 first-place votes. The Cardinal were followed by Texas (7-0, six votes), Penn State (8-1), Wisconsin (8-0, two votes) and Washington (9-0).
Rounding out the top 10 are Florida State (8-0), Florida (5-2), Colorado State (9-1), Nebraska (5-2) and USC (6-2). The other team to drop out of the Top 25 was former No. 20 Duke (6-3).
Hawaii remains No. 3 on the all-time list of weeks in the poll, which dates back to 1982. Only Nebraska and Stanford have been ranked every week of every poll, a total of 466 weeks; Hawaii is third at 461 and UCLA and USC tied for fourth at 447.
