Hawaii’s win streak went up by two last week on the volleyball court, but the Rainbow Wahine saw their ranking drop by one on Monday in the AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25.
Hawaii (22-1, 12-0 Big West) traded places with Stanford (17-5, 11-3 Pac-12) in the poll, the Cardinal moving to No. 6 and the Rainbow Wahine to No. 7. It was the only movement in the top 10, with defending national champion Penn State remaining at No. 1, receiving 35 first-place votes.
The Nittany Lions were followed by USC (25-1, 23 votes), Washington (22-2, 6 votes), Minnesota (21-3) and Texas (20-2). Rounding out the top 10 are Nebraska (20-4), UCLA (20-4) and Kansas (22-1).
After victories at Long Beach State and Cal State Northridge, Hawaii has won 17 straight dating back to its lone loss of the year to UCLA on Sept. 6. It is the Wahine’s longest streak since they won 19 in a row in 2012.
Also Monday, the Wahine stayed at 32 in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index, the computer-generated formula that rates strength of schedule and is used by the NCAA selection committee to seed the top 16 teams and award hosting duties for the first and second rounds of the postseason tournament. Hawaii is the only team in the top 10 of the coaches poll that is not rated in the top 12 of the RPI.
Hawaii also remained the top blocking team in the country at 3.40 blocks per set. Penn State is second (3.17) and North Carolina third (3.15).
Individually, senior middle Olivia Magill stayed at No. 8 nationally in blocking (1.59 bps). Junior hitter Nikki Taylor is seventh in the country in points per set • which combines kills, blocks and aces • with 5.34 pps.
Hawaii concludes the regular season on the road with four matches in seven days beginning with Sunday’s contest at UC Davis (13-14, 8-5).