Rainbow Wahine drop in poll and RPI

After two five-set road losses last week, the Hawaii volleyball team dropped six places in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index and five places in the AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 poll released Monday.

The Rainbow Wahine (16-4, 5-3 Big West) are now No. 13 in the poll and No. 15 in the RPI. They lost to Cal State Northridge and UC Davis on the road, losing consecutive conference matches for the first time since 1993. It is also the first time since 1994 that Hawaii has lost three matches in conference play.

The RPI is a computer-generated power ranking that measures wins, losses, strength of schedule and opponents’ strength of schedule. It is used by the NCAA selection committee for seedings and brackets of the postseason tournament.

Hawaii was at No. 3 in the first RPI of the season two weeks ago and No. 10 last week.

Texas was No. 1 in Monday’s RPI, followed by Penn State, Florida, Washington and Stanford.

The top six teams in the AVCA poll remained the same, led by Texas (15-2), which received 43 of the 60 first-place votes. Penn State (18-2, 11 votes) was second, followed by Washington (17-1), USC (18-3), Florida (20-2) and Stanford (15-4).