Rainbow Warriors No. 1 in RPI; Parapunov POW; 2 first-place votes in poll
The Rainbow Warrior volleyball team was slotted at No.1 in the first NCAA RPI report of the season.
Behind the Rainbow Warriors (17-0) are Long Beach State (19-0), Pepperdine (15-6), UC Santa Barbara (15-5) and UCLA (16-6).
Not that it means a lot in the RPI. Charlie Wade called it ‘fool’s gold.’
CORRECTING
They were No. 1 in Strength of Schedule, No. 4 RPI on Selection Sunday last year.
Complete rankings here.
——————
From the Big West:
Rado Parapunov nabbed Big West Men’s Volleyball Player of the Week honors for the third straight week after leading Hawaii to a conference series sweep over CSUN.
The 6-foot-9 opposite averaged 4.83 kills per set, hitting .600 with 29 kills and just five errors on 40 attempts. He had team-high in kills in both matches, posting 12 in the opener and 17 in the rematch as UH recorded two sweeps.
Parapunov hit .733 (12-1-15) to go along with three digs, two blocks (one solo) and an assist in Friday’s 25-23, 25-16, 25-17 victory. He knocked down 17 kills on .520 hitting (17-4-25) in Saturday’s rematch, a 25-16, 25-17, 25-18 affair. He delivered five digs, two block assists and a pair of aces against the Matadors in the rematch.
———————
The Warriors are still No. 2 in this week’s AVCA poll but Long Beach State no longer unanimous No. 1.
Long Beach State received 14 first-place votes and Hawaii two.
Behind them were No. 3 UC Santa Barbara, No. 4 Pepperdine and No. 5 UCLA.
AVCA Top-15 (March 18):
1. Long Beach State
2. Hawai'i
3. UC Santa Barbara
4. Pepperdine
5. UCLA
6. UC Irvine
7. Lewis
8. BYU
9. Stanford
10. Loyola-Chicago
11. Southern California
12. CSUN
13. Purdue Fort Wayne
14. George Mason
15. Ball State— AVCA (@AVCAVolleyball) March 18, 2019
Thinking of last years snub just makes me angry again lol glad the team has used that as fuel.
Now time for Stijn, joe and co to finally beat BYU in Provo.
One correction to the above. On Selection Sunday last year (4/22/18), UH’s RPI ranking was 4th, not 1st. LBSU had the top RPI rank, followed by BYU, UCLA, UH, Loyola Chicago and UC Irvine.
To view the details, see: https://extra.ncaa.org/solutions/rpi/SitePages/Home.aspx
At this website, select Volleyball for the Sport, and Men for the Gender. Leave everything else blank. The men’s volleyball RPI details will come up. Start with the document named: MVB2018_Team Sheets_Selection. It will be the ninth report listed for year 2018. This report listed RPI based on games played through 4/21/18. The detailed reports for the first 2019 RPI ranking have not yet been posted.
For the curious, Ryan Booher (King Univ. HC) and Matthew Werle (Grand Canyon Univ. HC) voted UH #1 in this week’s AVCA poll. UH beat King easily two weekends ago while GCU has played every Big West team except Hawai’i, and was swept by all except for Northridge, who they beat 3-2.
With all the talk that Hawaii’s SOS is so weak, being #1 in RPI confuses me.
Also, it seems so strange that in Women’s volleyball, RPI seems to be such a big factor in the NCAA Tournament, but in Men’s, not so much. The final four at UCLA last year probably was the deciding factor (travel costs).
UH’s RPI benefits from its undefeated record and from its opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage. Several of UH’s opponents have high strength of schedule (SOS)–CSUN (x2) has the toughest schedule, followed by Pepperdine and Stanford (x2). Other UH opponents with high SOS are Concordia (6), Irvine x2 (8), and USC (10). These two components form 50% of the RPI value and appear to outweigh UH’s SOS, which is ranked 11th best (not terrible, not stellar) and forms the other 50% of the RPI. While UH has played teams with higher winning percentages like Pepperdine, Lincoln Memorial (x2), Stanford (x2), and Irvine (x2), it has also played teams like NJIT, Concordia, and Queens (x2), who have losing records. By comparison, RPI #2 LBSU has the 15th best SOS.
SOS figures can be found at: http://stats.ncaa.org/rankings?sport_code=MVB&division=1
(see “Misc Reports” tab, then click on the “Toughest Schedule” link)
The men’s RPI ranking reminds me of what we have seen in the women’s game. The Big West has teams ranked 1, 2, 4, 8, 10 and 27 in the RPI. The MSPF has teams ranked 3, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, and 23. Nine of the top 10 RPI ranks come from these two conferences. This is a more extreme version of what we have seen historically in women’s volleyball with the Big 10 and Pac-12, who combined for 11 of the top 20 RPI spots in its Selection RPI last year.
Wondering why Joe Worsley has not been nominated for player of the week
For goodness sakes he has everyone starting hitting above .400
And his all around game is unmatched statically by any D1 setter
2. you’re right. I was thinking SOS.
Either way, Hawaii was ahead of UCI in RPI, SOS and head-to-head. Hawaii was ahead in the first few criteria. It should have never gone to road record. and add the fact that UCI, because it came to Hawaii last season, could get an extra home matches. basically could walk across the street to Concordia. There is an inequity is how they regard neutral site. Hawaii went all the way to Tennessee, which was a heck of a road trip. but it didn’t count as away matches.
5. agree with you. Tuaniga has been, which led to his national POW. But then he is the reigning AVCA Player of the Year.
5. Cindy, I just did some research and was about to say UH has the top SOS last season. Thx for clarifying.
Really thought someone from LB would win POW since they had a few big games against SB but nevertheless very happy it was awarded to UH. Now let’s hope they get acclimated to the air for serving at BYU.