University of Hawaii volleyball team drops in RPI, has chance to win BWC title outright

BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM

Hawaii players celebrate a point against Cal Poly on Nov. 3.

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No matches meant no change in the national ranking for the Hawaii women’s volleyball team, but the Rainbow Wahine did drop in Monday’s Ratings Percentage Index, the computer-generated computer system used by the NCAA to rate strength of schedule and seed the postseason tournament.

Hawaii (22-3, 12-2 Big West) remains at No. 18 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 coming off a bye week that saw a significant change in the conference standings. Cal Poly’s loss at Long Beach State last Friday has the Mustangs (18-8, 11-3) a full game behind the Wahine.

Should Hawaii win this week’s final regular-season matches with Cal State Northridge and Long Beach State, the Wahine will claim the Big West title outright, their first since 2016. The Wahine host CSUN (12-15, 7-8) on Thursday and the Beach (12-15, 9-6) on Friday in 7 p.m. matches at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Friday’s match is senior night for Wahine Bailey Choy, Norene Iosia, Rika Okino, McKenna Ross and Kirsten Sibley.

In the RPI, Hawaii moved down a spot to 12 but looks to be in contention for a top-16 seed in the NCAA tournament, which would have the Wahine hosting the first and second rounds for the first time since 2013. The NCAA traditionally has awarded teams with an RPI of 1 to 16 hosting duties for the subregional.

Selection Sunday is Dec. 1.

Baylor, which handed Hawaii its first loss of the season back on Sept. 22, has been at 1 in the RPI since the first rating was released Oct. 7. The RPI is based on a team’s win-loss record, the record of its opponents and the record of its opponents’ opponents. There is a bonus for defeating teams in the top 50.

Hawaii has victories over Washington (Monday RPI 10), Missouri (18), UCLA (23), San Diego (26) and Cal Poly (36), and two over UC Santa Barbara (33). The Wahine’s RPI has been negatively impacted by its five-set loss to UC Irvine, which is 267 out of 335 teams in Division I, as well as the RPI of the other Big West teams: Long Beach State (120), UC Davis (121), CSUN (171), Cal State Fullerton (209) and UC Riverside (272).

In Monday’s AVCA poll, the top four remained the same, led by Texas (19-2, 51 first-place votes). No. 2 Pitt (26-1) received 11 votes, No. 3 Baylor (21-1) one vote and No. 4 Stanford (20-4) one vote.

Hawaii is 4-1 against teams mentioned in the poll, the one loss coming at Baylor. The Wahine have victories over No. 10 Washington (21-5) and No. 20 San Diego (21-5), as well as wins over UCLA — the Bruins (14-11) are two spots outside the Top 25 with 48 points — and Missouri. The Tigers (18-6) are 29th with 34 points.