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The American Volleyball Coaches Association released their first in-season poll of the 2016 season on Monday, and YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles did not jump into the top 25 after defeating former #7 USC to open the season.
Sure, you can make the argument that Marquette didn’t deserve to bump up from an unofficial #38 in the preseason poll because they did lose to Santa Clara, who did not get any votes at all in that edition of the rankings. However, I suspect that USC starting out the season 0-3 with losses to that same Santa Clara team as well as UC-Irvine did more damage to MU’s chances at the top 25 than anything else. After all, if the top 10 team you just beat loses to the next two teams they play, were they really a top 10 team?
Marquette picked up 34 points in the new poll, well up from their preseason total of just six. That makes MU the unofficial #33 team in the country, two spots below USC and their 76 points. Santa Clara made a massive jump, going from not getting anything in the preseason poll to sitting just two spots outside the top 25 with 123 points.
As far as future Golden Eagles opponents go, Creighton dropped to #22 from #18 in the preseason poll after starting out their season 1-1. Kentucky, who will be hosting Marquette two weekends from now, moved up one spot to #23 this week, which is kind of weird considering that they opened 2-1 with win over formerly #20 Purdue but a loss to a Washington State squad that’s not getting any votes.
There’s a few Marquette foes in the Receiving Votes section along with the Golden Eagles, but all three of them trail behind MU. Wichita State, who will play host for this coming weekend’s action, picked up 32 points and is two spots behind Marquette in the rankings. Iowa State (28 points) is one spot behind the Shockers, and Missouri State (12 points) is five spots behind Marquette. Both the Cyclones and the Bears will be coming to Milwaukee in mid-September.
You can check out the full top 25 for August 29, 2016, right here.