University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine volleyball team falls in poll, climbs in RPI

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Dropping a road match at Cal Poly last Friday led to Hawaii’s drop in the national women’s volleyball rankings on Monday.

The Rainbow Wahine (14-3, 4-2 Big West) fell three spots to No. 22 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25. Hawaii, which rebounded to sweep UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, is the only Big West team ranked.

Both the Gauchos (15-2, 5-1) and the Mustangs (13-5, 6-0) received votes. UCSB had 14 points and Cal Poly 12 points, which put the two outside the poll at 32nd and 33rd.

Baylor (15-0), which handed Hawaii its first loss of the season, remained at No. 1 for a third straight week. The Bears received 61 of the 64 first-place votes.

The top five stayed the same, with defending national champion Stanford (11-3) receiving two first-place votes and Pitt (17-1) one vote. Texas (11-1) remained at No. 4 and Nebraska (13-2) at No. 5.

Washington (13-3), which lost to the Wahine the opening week of the season, moved up a spot to No. 10, while Missouri (10-4), which lost to Hawaii at the Baylor Invitational, fell three spots to No. 25.

Hawaii next hosts UC Riverside (5-12, 1-5) at 7 p.m Friday and UC Davis (12-7, 4-2) on Sunday at 5 p.m. Friday has been designated as Dig Pink Night (breast cancer awareness) and Sunday also includes the 25th-anniversary celebration of the Stan Sheriff Center.

Also on Monday, Hawaii’s RPI moved up five spots to No. 9. The Wahine opened at 14 in last week’s inaugural Ratings Percentage Index.

The RPI is a computer-generated system that rates strength of schedule based on a team’s record, the record of its opponents and the record of those opponents’ opponents. Teams that have an RPI of 16 and better traditionally have been awarded hosting duties for the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament.

In the RPI, Baylor remained at 1. The Wahine have six other opponents in the top 50: Washington (6), Missouri (19), UCLA (22), UCSB (36), Cal Poly (39) and San Diego (40).

Also, Hawaii is No. 1 in Monday’s west regional rankings. Colorado State is second, followed by UCSB and Cal Poly.