It was going to be an interesting riddle for the AVCA top 25 poll voters to solve.
Marquette volleyball got beaten badly by #7 Wisconsin, then beat #15 Florida in three sets, then lost to #12 Minnesota
in a competitive match even at 3-0, with all three matches going as home contests for the Golden Eagles. In the same week, Florida visited Wisconsin after losing to MU and the Gators took a 3-1 loss in Madison.
So what do you do with a Marquette team that slipped out of receiving poll votes last week because of a five set loss to Ball State? Is beating Florida good enough to rank them? Probably not on everyone’s ballot, and even if MU got 25th place votes from every voter, that still might not be enough to end up in the top 25.
As it turns out, the answer for some voters was “yes, that’s enough.” Marquette earned 16 points worth of votes this week, and that’s good enough for them to be considered the unofficial #30 team in the country. That’s pretty much where they were two weeks ago before losing all their votes because of the Ball State loss. The Golden Eagles find themselves in between Indiana with 22 points and Kansas State with 13.
Wisconsin is the top ranked team on Marquette’s schedule again this week. The Badgers didn’t move at all in the rankings with their wins over the Golden Eagles and the Gators, as they’re still #7 in the country. Minnesota’s ranking didn’t move either, staying steady at #12.
Creighton comes in next in terms of ranked MU opponents, as they moved up two spots to #16 right now. Florida fell four spots because of their losses to Marquette and Wisconsin — although probably just the MU loss — and now they’re #19.
Marquette has one familiar name with them down in the Receiving Votes group. Western Kentucky earned nine points, which ties them with Michigan for the 32nd best ranking in the country.
The Golden Eagles return to action this Friday night when they host Providence to open up Big East play. First serve is set for 7pm Central, and ESPN+ will have the broadcast.
You can check out the entire top 25 right here.
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