Wild movement in lower part of State Top 25 Women's Volleyball Rankings
Complete State Top 25 Rankings
While the first 20 teams of the CCCWVCA State Women's Volleyball Top 25 rankings have settled in with some ups and downs, it's the last 20 percent that has seen more seismic movement than detected at Cal Tech this week.
Four teams jumped on to the state top 25 thanks to direct upsets and other factors. Rio Hondo College (8-5) joined the rankings for the first time at #21 with its second upset of a state #10-ranked team in taking down now #11 Mt. San Antonio in five sets. The Roadrunners, who beat #13 Pasadena City five days earlier, are paced by this week's SoCal State Player of the Week in setter Faith Wada (State POTW release).
Bakersfield (9-7), last year's #1 seed in the South, finally got back on the rankings at #22 after sweep of Santa Monica, now tied at #T25. Sierra (13-10) didn't do anything special in a 4-set loss to #7 American River, but due to losses by a number of other previously-ranked teams, the Wolverines track record was strong enough to grab the #23 spot. Finally, Golden West (9-7) used a 5-set upset over now #14 Santa Ana and a sweep over Saddleback to join SMC in at #T25.
Feather River (26-1) extended its Golden Valley Conference win streak to 48 matches and its overall win streak to 24 contests as the Golden Eagles have established themselves as the prohibitive #1-ranked team. OH Carissa Chainey has been on fire the last four victories in hitting an even .500 with 36 kills, including 17 in a win over Butte.
At #2, San Joaquin Delta (17-2) has won 24 straight sets and leads the Big 8 with a 9-0 conference record. College of San Mateo (15-3) won its 10th straight, sweeping #16 Cabrillo (9-7) while head coach Katie Goldhahn is watching from afar after having a baby (Blake)--see article here
Ventura (16-1), the South's current top team and #4 in state, won a close 4-set rematch v. #10 Moorpark, defeating the Raiders for the second time in Western State Conference North Division play. At #5 and paced recently by middle blocker Aly Guise, Grossmont upped its win streak to 13 with wins over Palomar (four sets) and #24 MiraCosta (sweep) while PCAC rival and #6 San Diego Mesa has won 21 straight sets with two more sweeps last week.
American River (15-4) settled in at #7 with 4-set wins over Modesto and Sierra. The #8 Fresno City College Rams (15-7) extended their Central Valley Conference win streak to 154 matches, but their amazing consecutive set streak finally ended at 128 straight sets won when #12 Sequoias (16-7) took set #3 in a 4-set match on Oct. 21. The Giants had a 7-match win streak snapped in the defeat.
Orange Empire Conference leader and #9 Irvine Valley (13-4) swept Riverside CC and #17 Orange Coast to improve to 9-1 in league play. South Coast Conference first-place Mt. SAC (15-4) only dropped one spot despite the loss to Rio Hondo and #13 Pasadena (13-5) avenged an earlier loss to El Camino by beating the Warriors in four sets. Santa Ana (14-3) fell two slots to #14 thanks to the GWC upset but did defeat #20 Cypress (14-6) in four sets.
College of the Canyons is making noise by leaping three spots to #15. The Cougars have won 24 consecutive sets and a perfect 8-0 to top the WSC South Division. Santa Barbara City (11-8), the only team to defeat Ventura this year, swept Cuesta but fell a spot to #18. Hartnell (15-9) recorded two sweeps over Las Positas and Skyline to remain at #19.
Despite losing to Bakersfield, Santa Monica (14-5) won yet again in five sets over Citrus and that increased their incredible 5-set match win total to seven this year.
In the Best of the Rest, Shasta knocked Bay Valley Conference leader Solano out of the rankings for now with a sweep while Sacramento City shocked Folsom Lake in five sets. College of the Desert is on a roll and leads the Inland Empire Athletic Conference at 6-0. No one is safe in the Big 8 after another upset as Modesto surprised Santa Rosa JC in four sets.
Release/Rankings by Robert Lewis, CCCWVCA SID