Rice moves up to #19 in the coaches poll with 433 points. WKU moves in at #24 (113 points). SFA is "29" with 23 points. Ole Miss getting points (9). Texas remains #4.

And for some reason, Oregon is still getting points (18). They are 5-10 and 68th in RPI.

https://www.avca.org/polls/di-women/10-14-2019.html

But we did move up 2 spots to #19 (moved past Purdue and Hawai'i). Western Kentucky also enters the poll at #24 - they're off to their best start in school history too. SFA (up to 23 votes, roughly 29th place), and Ole Miss (first appearance there) also receiving votes.

RPI and coaches ranking coming together at 15 and 19, respectively?

Makes more sense than Oregon at 68 and 18, respectively.

RPI is worth looking at only because the NCAA considers it as part of tournament selection.

RPI is a terrible rating/ranking system; any analysis of how and/why RPI ranking aligns or does not align with any other ranking is hardly worth while.

If you want to compare the Coaches poll with a numerical / computer ranking system, I suggest looking at the Massey rating:

https://www.masseyratings.com/cvol/ncaa-d1/ratings

After playing and sweeping two really bad teams, Rice moved from 15 to 16 in Massey; much more reasonable than from 9 to 15 in RPI.

Oregon is "30" in the coaches poll, 51 in Massey, and 68 in RPI. Hawaii is 22 in the coaches poll, 26 in Massey, and 9 in RPI.

I think I only saw 2 coaches who didn't have Rice ranked this week. Coastal Carolina (who is 16-2 and really should be ranked instead of Texas State in that one regional poll) has Iowa State #24 (I guess because that's one of their two losses). But the Cyclones are 11-6 and went 1-1 in that same Ole Miss tournament Rice played in (losing to UCF in 5 and beating Ole Miss in 4). Hopefully he'll figure it out shortly. Also, Manhattan - they are one of those team who are still putting Oregon (sorry - didn't mean Hawaii before) in the rankings. They probably just have packed in their season and their rankings.

(10-14-2019 05:55 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  I think I only saw 2 coaches who didn't have Rice ranked this week. Coastal Carolina (who is 16-2 and really should be ranked instead of Texas State in that one regional poll) has Iowa State #24 (I guess because that's one of their two losses). But the Cyclones are 11-6 and went 1-1 in that same Ole Miss tournament Rice played in (losing to UCF in 5 and beating Ole Miss in 4). Hopefully he'll figure it out shortly. Also, Manhattan - they are one of those team who are still putting Hawai'i in the rankings. They probably just have packed in their season and their rankings.

whoever thought ~20 years ago during the WAC days that Rice would be ranked ahead of Hawaii in WVB?

(10-14-2019 05:55 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Also, Manhattan - they are one of those team who are still putting Oregon (sorry - didn't mean Hawaii before) in the rankings. They probably just have packed in their season and their rankings.

Or the coach doesn't care in the first place and is letting a student assistant or trainer or someone in the SID office fill out the ballot....

The reason why Rice dropped half-a-dozen places in RPI despite winning both matches is for the reason I noted earlier: last weeks' opposition was probably the two worst teams in C-USA, and their inferior records (a combined 8-28) dragged down the Owls' strength-of-schedule and thus RPI compared to Rice's RPI neighbors (who mostly are playing in tougher conferences and thus gaining relatively in SOS). At least both of this week's opponents, Marshall and Louisiana Tech, have winning records, so playing and beating them (and Massey's system says we have a 95% chance of beating both of them) should keep the slippage to a minimum.

Moving up to 19 sounds about right. Do not think we are a top 10 team because of the conference we are in.

(10-14-2019 01:49 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  But we did move up 2 spots to #19 (moved past Purdue and Hawai'i). Western Kentucky also enters the poll at #24 - they're off to their best start in school history too. SFA (up to 23 votes, roughly 29th place), and Ole Miss (first appearance there) also receiving votes.

All the remaining teams on our schedule except UTEP (8-10) currently have winning records. So our RPI is likely to stabilize or move up as long as we keep winning. A win over WKU (currently 19-1; likely to be 25-1) at Autry court on Nov. 10 would likely help our RPI and our position in the coaches poll.

This is not going to be an easy weekend for the ladies. Road trips to Huntington (always difficult travel) and then Rustin. And Marshall is a solid Squad (12-6, 2-0 at home, 3-2 CUSA). Granted, they haven't beaten anyone of quality and they were swept on the road at WKU, but still. Can't take either of these two teams for granted.

Really tight first set at Marshall tied at 21 - 21. We've made a ton of errors.

Whew-- Rice takes the first set 25 - 23. Lennon with 8 kills and 3 errors in 19 attempts, as well as 9 digs. A monster set for her.

Rice out to a 9-5 led in second set, but Marshall has rallied to tie it at 11 - 11.

Rice coasting now, up 22 - 14 in the second set.

Marshall closes the gap-- Rice 23 - 17 in 2nd set. I'm off to dinner.

Close strong, ladies!

Owls win 2nd set 25-20.

Nicole with 15 kills and 6 errors thru 2 sets.

Rice up 7-6 in 3rd set.

Now 18-12 Owls in 3rd set.

20-14 Owls.

24-20 Owls.