Pac-12 Leads the Way in First Conference Rankings of 2017

StaEarlier today, the first RPI rankings of the 2017 NCAA women’s volleyball season were released, and the Penn State Nittany Lions were the top-ranked team in the land. Besides having a team-by-team bragging right, with a more objective measurement than our VolleyMob power rankings, this gives us the opportunity to weigh the relative strengths of each conference.

Keeping in mind that the top conference’s overall RPIs tend to balance out as conference play continues, the Pac-12 opened the season with the lowest average RPI ranking. On average, Pac-12 teams ranked 35th in the inaugural measurement, which is higher than the Big Ten (41) in spite of the fact that the Big Ten had multiple teams complete, or almost complete, non-conference play with undefeated records.

The Big 12, SEC, and ACC round out the top 5 teams – which is actually unusual. While those conferences are typically known as the “Power 5” conferences, and dominate the landscape in most collegiate sports, in volleyball mid-majors usually sneak in and upset the load. Specifically, last year, the ACC finished as just the 10th-best conference (by this measure), while the West Coast Conference (BYU, San Diego, Loyola Marymount, Gonzaga, etc.) was 5th.

But this year in the ACC, partially thanks to a strong Miami team (who finally lost this weekend), along with other positives like resurgent NC State and Louisville programs under new coaches, have lifted the ACC.

For now, the WCC is the top-ranked mid-major program at 6th, followed by the Big East, Mountain West, Colonial, and Big West.

The RPI is determined by a computer-driven formula where 1/4 of your rank is based on your Win-Loss %, 1/2 is based on your opponents’ Win-Loss %, 1/4 is based on your opponents’ opponents Win-Loss %, with bonuses being awarded for wins against the top 25 and top 50, as well as for a top-75 non-conference schedule.

Conference-by-conference rankings are below: