I think the West Coast TEAMS and a lot of their core fans have gotten the message that there are some really strong programs east of the Rockies, hence the trips to play on the road in the Midwest and East by UCLA, Pepperdine, UCSB, Stanford, and the one team that always seemed to understand the issue, BYU. I like that the MIVA web site has a banner that says, "Home of the 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2016 National Champions."
But the polls--- especially the preseason polls--- are still skewed West. UC Irvine finished last season at 10-20, but the West Coast guys have them at #7, right behind Lewis. Mighty Pepperdine, picked #5 nationally preseason, looked shaky beating McKendree at their Malibu home last week, eking out a 3-2 win over the team picked to finish 5th in the MIVA after dropping the first two sets.
Lewis, ranked #6 and picked to finish 2nd in the MIVA, lost to #3 BYU at home, and struggled a bit last night with NJIT, needing extra games in a fourth set to beat them. Top-ranked Ohio State beat #2 UCLA last night, 3-1. That says to me that UCLA is just a half step behind OSU, but there's a considerable gap between #2 and #3. It'll be interesting to see what happens with #11 Loyola in the polls after a win over BYU and a loss to UCLA-- based on the first three games, I think I'd have Loyola several spots up, closer to Lewis, if not ahead. UCLA is clearly much better than Loyola right now. They wiped the floor with us. BYU was a struggle, and they would probably beat us in Provo, where they have a huge home court advantage (fans, altitude).
The match against Pepperdine next weekend, and how Pepperdine does against Lewis the next night, will tell us a lot more about where we are in the men's volleyball pecking order. But as of right now, I'd say were in that bunched up group of BYU, Lewis, Long Beach State, Hawaii, and MAYBE UC Irvine and Pepperdine, a considerable gap behind Ohio State and UCLA at the top.
|