Conference action is in the swing of things for everyone except for the Big West, which starts up very soon. Conference action has already caused some shuffling in the rankings, as it is a new season of sorts. As of this very moment though, this is how the field of conferences in NCAA Men’s Division I-II Volleyball sit with team’s in the VolleyMob and AVCA rankings:
| VM TOP 20 | VM AVG. RK | AVCA (15) | AVCA AVG. RK | ||
| MPSF | 7 | 12.4 | 4 | 7.5 | |
| Big West | 5 | 6.2 | 5 | 6.6 | |
| MIVA | 5 | 9.6 | 5 | 10.0 | |
| EIVA | 3 | 14.7 | 1 | 7.0 |
In continuing the trend of the start of conference season creating highly ranked matches and movement in the polls, the MIVA saw it happen to an extreme. Ball State went from unranked without a top-end win and a 5-7 record to downing two top 10 teams and moving into the #14 slot in the VolleyMob Men’s Top 20 Power Rankings. That big jump gives the MIVA as many teams in the rankings as the Big West – although the west coast league’s teams average a higher ranking.
You compare that to the AVCA, and some of the lower ranked teams from the MPSF are clipped as their average ranking goes up. The Big West and MIVA sit stronger in that due to the cut off after 15.
Once again it’s a debate of which west coast league is the best though. Do you go with the one that has more top 20 teams in the MPSF or the one in the Big West that has two less, but more top end teams. Maybe the answer is both have their own positives and challenges which should create for fantastic league races.
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