I wonder how long that Dayton win is going to sustain them.
I am starting to deeply believe that the only reason that Marquette volleyball continues to get top AVCA top 25 votes is because Dayton continues to be ranked.
In this week’s newest poll, Marquette has 26 points to make them the unofficial #28 team in the country, which is an improvement of five points and one spot from last week. Not coincidentally, Dayton moved up from #22 to #21, and to this point of the year, MU is the only team to beat the Flyers in 18 attempts. I think the voters who are getting Dayton ranked are also voting for Marquette because the Golden Eagles have that win to their credit.
I’ve had crazier theories, to be sure. It will have to stay a theory for now, because the AVCA doesn’t make the week by week polls available in season. Alas.
Pitt’s hold on the top spot in the poll is starting to fragment. The Panthers lost the road side of a Wednesday/Saturday two match series with then-#15 SMU over this past week, and that’s Pitt’s first loss of the season. They’re still #1 because that’s not a damaging loss, but they only have 41 first place votes, with the remainder going to Nebraska (19) and Penn State (1). #5 Stanford arrives at Fitzgerald Field House on Sunday for an ACC clash, not to mention a battle of teams that Marquette has played, so we’ll see what happens to the poll after that.
Elsewhere in the rankings this week, Creighton is #6, Kansas is #9, and Wisconsin is #9, just like they all were last week. Nobody else on MU’s schedule is in the top 25, and there’s not even anyone else receiving votes.
Marquette returns to action on Friday night when they host DePaul in a battle of two teams tied for second place in the Big East. First serve is set for 7pm Central time.
You can check out the entire top 25 right here.