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Hawaii added to its winning streak on Sunday and added to its collection of conference weekly honors in volleyball on Monday.
The Rainbow Wahine (15-1, 6-0 Big West) had Olivia Magill chosen as Defensive Player of the Week after the senior middle played a major role in the sweep over Cal State Northridge on Friday and the five-set victory over Long Beach State on Sunday.
Magill, ranked fifth nationally in blocks (1.63 bps), had eight blocks against the Matadors and tied her career high with 11 against the 49ers, including a career-high three solo.
Magill leads Hawaii — the country’s top blocking team (3.40 bps) — in blocks (93) and hitting percentage (.396). She is the third Wahine honored this season, joining junior Nikki Taylor (thrice the Player of the Week) and sophomore libero Savanah Kahakai (Defensive POW).
While Hawaii’s ranking in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 remained at No. 8, the Rainbow Wahine did move up eight spots to No. 28 in the Ratings Percentage Index. The RPI is a major component of the NCAA’s criteria for top-16 seeding and postseason hosting of the first and second rounds.
Of the one-loss teams, Hawaii’s RPI is the lowest and puts the Wahine behind Texas (3, 15-1), Washington (7, 15-1) and Arkansas State (18, 17-1). Creighton (13-7) and North Carolina (8-7), with the most losses in the top 30 of the RPI, are 23rd and 27th.
Hawaii is the only Big West team in the top 60 of the RPI as well as in the coaches’ Top 25. USC (18-0) and Texas remained 1-2 in the AVCA poll, the Women of Troy receiving 63 first-place votes and the Longhorns the remaining vote.
The rest of the top 10 teams remained the same, though several moved spots, courtesy of defending national champion Penn State’s loss at unranked Northwestern. The Nittany Lions (15-2) dropped two spots to No. 5. Moving up a spot to No. 3 was Nebraska (14-2), followed by Washington.
Stanford (10-4) moved up to No. 6, while Ohio State (16-2) leapfrogged over Hawaii from No. 9 to No. 7. Kansas (17-0) moved to No. 9 and previously undefeated Arizona State (15-2) fell five spots to No. 10 after losses at Washington and Washington State.
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