Warriors slip to No. 2
| • | Scout's honor: Wilton works as players play |
Advertiser Staff
After two weeks as the nation's top volleyball team, the University of Hawai'i fell to No. 2 in this week's USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association top-15 poll.
Rank School (First-Place Votes) Points 1 UCLA (7) 229
Last week, UH and UCLA split a two-match series. UH won the first match in five games. UCLA, which moved from No. 2 to No. 1 this week, won the rematch in four games.
USA Today/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll
2 Hawai'i (6) 227
3 BYU (2) 211
4 Long Beach State (1) 193
5 Pepperdine 179
6 UC Santa Barbara 155
7 Cal State Northridge 148
8 Ball State 122
9 UC Irvine 104
10 Penn State 100
11 IPFW 85
12 Stanford 56
13 UC San Diego 29
14 Lewis 23
15 Ohio State 21
The pollsters "probably gave them the nod on that," UH coach Mike Wilton said yesterday from Los Angeles, where the Warriors are preparing for tomorrow's match against Cal State Northridge. "But you know what, I think BYU is a really good team, and I think Long Beach State is good, too."
UCLA received seven No. 1 votes and 229 points from the panel of 16 pollsters. UH earned six No. 1 votes and 227 points.
Third-ranked Brigham Young, which is in first place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, received two No. 1 votes and 211 points. No. 4 Long Beach State received the other No. 1 vote.
"I don't think too much of the polls except for the last one," Wilton said. "Now the MPSF standings, that's some real reality."
The top eight teams in the 12-team MPSF qualify for the conference's postseason tournament. The highest remaining seed hosts the semifinals and championship match. The MPSF tournament winner, not the regular-season champion, earns the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA final four. The lone at-large spot usually goes to a MPSF school.
The final four is scheduled for May 6 and 8 in the Stan Sheriff Center. The general public may begin purchasing final four tickets March 15 at all UH ticket outlets.
