One week off resulted in Hawaii losing one spot in both the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Ratings Percentage Index and the AVCA Coaches Top 25 released Monday.
The Rainbow Wahine (14-5, 6-1 Big West) dropped to 34 in the RPI, the computer-generated ratings that measure a team’s strength of schedule. Hawaii has the best RPI in its conference, with Long Beach State (15-7, 9-0) at 46, up 13 from last week, and Cal Poly (13-7, 6-3) at 64, down nine.
Hawaii, the lone Big West team ranked, fell to No. 14 in Monday’s poll. Defending national champion Nebraska (18-1) remained at No. 1, receiving all 64 first-place votes.
The top eight were unchanged. Following the Huskers were Texas (15-2), Minnesota (15-4), Wisconsin (16-3), San Diego (19-2), Kansas (18-2), Washington (18-2) and North Carolina (18-2).
Nebraska also moved to the top spot in the RPI, replacing Wisconsin, which dropped to 2. The Badgers, who handed Hawaii a 3-1 loss in the season opener, had held the top RPI since the first rankings on Oct. 3.
The Wahine had two other nonconference opponents ahead of them in today’s RPI in Washington (staying at 7) and UCLA (up a spot to 10). Arizona had been ahead of Hawaii but dropped five to 36 on Monday.
The Wahine return to Big West play with road matches at UC Riverside (6-14, 1-7) on Friday and at Cal State Fullerton (6-16, 1-7) on Saturday. Hawaii’s next home matches are Nov. 4 against Long Beach State and Nov. 5 against Cal State Northridge (6-14, 2-6).
The RPI is used by the NCAA selection committee to help seed teams in the postseason based on a team’s record and its strength of schedule. The formula uses winning percentage, opponents’ winning percentage and the winning percentage of opponents’ opponents, plus bonus points for victories over teams in the top 50 of the initial RPI.
