The Golden Eagles improved their standing but couldn’t get into the rankings this week.
After beating a team that was receiving AVCA top 25 votes last week and a team that was ranked at #24 in the country, YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles volleyball team has improved their position in the new poll that came out on Monday.
They just didn’t improve it enough to get into the AVCA top 25 this week.
A week ago, Marquette had 39 points in the polling and they were the unofficial #29 team in the country. Now, they have 77 points, and they’re the unofficial #26 team in the country. Before you get too far ahead of yourself: No, MU is not “just barely” outside the top 25 this week. Yes, they are #26, but Arkansas is #25 with 144 points. That’s almost nearly twice as many points as Marquette, so it wasn’t a close call. Heck, it was a close call for that unofficial #26 spot, as Washington grabbed 73 points to land in the spot right behind the Golden Eagles. Behind the Huskies? Auburn at 69 and Miami at 66. Not a lot different between all of those squads if we’re being honest.
The top five teams in the poll did not change this week, which means future Marquette opponent Pitt is the #1 team in the land and past MU opponent Stanford is #2. Less than 20 points separate the two, so the next team to land a major win could shift the balance of power.
The top 10 is jammed with Marquette opponents. Wisconsin comes in at #7, up one spot from last week, Creighton stayed steady at #9, and #10 Kansas flip flopped with #11 Kentucky from last week’s rankings to make it half the top 10 consisting of teams that will see the Golden Eagles at some point this season.
That brings us around to Dayton, Marquette’s first ranked win of the season. The Flyers suffered very little as a result of their neutral site loss to Marquette, and they kept their #24 ranking after MU handed them their first loss of the season. There’s no one else to talk about in the poll, unless there’s someone only on one ballot and thus hidden from prying eyes by the AVCA.
Marquette returns to action on Tuesday night when they head west a little bit to face #7 Wisconsin. That match is being blown up as a big one, as Bucky will host it in the Kohl Center instead of the less than half the size Field House, and Big Ten Network will pick up the 7pm Central time broadcast. Later this weekend? MU visits #1 Pitt.
You can check out the entire AVCA top 25 right here.