University of Florida assistant volleyball coach Dave Boos isn’t the only member of his family celebrating a No. 1 American Volleyball Coaches Association ranking on Monday.
With Boos in his first year on the Florida staff, the Gators earned their first No. 1 national ranking since Dec. 3, 1996. Boos’ brother Jim is the head coach at NCAA Division II member Minnesota-Duluth, where his team earned the nation’s top spot in the AVCA Division II poll on Monday afternoon.
The Gators, who have defeated eight ranked opponents this season, are coming off a pair of 3-0 sweeps against Alabama and Mississippi State on the road this past weekend. The Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs (17-1, 8-1 Northern Sun Conference), like the Gators, were ranked No. 2 last week before posting a 3-1 win against Bemidji State on Saturday.
In NCAA Division I, then-No. 1 Stanford dropped a 3-2 match to UCLA on Saturday evening, while at the Division II level, the previous No. 1 team, Wayne State, posted a pair of losses last week to allow Minnesota-Duluth to soar to the top spot.
The No. 1 ranking marks the sixth time in program history that Florida has been top-ranked, while Minnesota-Duluth is ranked No. 1 for the seventh time in its program history.
GATORS RATED NO. 1 IN RPI FOR SECOND CONSECUTIVE WEEK
The Florida volleyball team holds the nation’s top ratings percentage index (RPI) for the second consecutive week, according to the latest ratings released by the NCAA on Monday evening.
Link to full RPI: http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/weeklyrpi/2010WVBrpi1.html
The Gators (14-1, 7-0 Southeastern Conference) have played arguably the nation’s toughest schedule this season, facing nine ranked foes over their first 12 matches. Florida has posted an impressive 8-1 record against ranked foes in 2010.
Nebraska is the No. 2 team in the latest RPI, while Illinois is No. 3, Northern Iowa is No. 4 and Stanford is No. 5. Additional 2010 Florida opponents ranked in the RPI’s top-25 this week include Penn State at No. 8, Tennessee at No. 11, LSU at No. 12, Iowa State at No. 14, Florida State at No. 16, Texas at No. 21 and Colorado State at No. 24.
The next NCAA Women’s Volleyball RPI report will be released Oct. 18.
NCAA RPI RATINGS – OCTOBER 11, 2010
1. Florida (14-1)
2. Nebraska (16-1)
3. Illinois (13-3)
4. Northern Iowa (16-2)
5. Stanford (14-1)
6. Northwestern (15-3)
7. Minnesota (14-4)
8. Penn State (13-4)
9. Duke (15-2)
10. Southern California (14-2)
FLORIDA IN NATION’S TOP 25 IN THREE STATISTICAL CATEGORIES
The Florida volleyball team is ranked among the nation’s top-25 in three team statistical categories – hitting percentage, service aces per set and blocks per set, according to the latest NCAA statistics, announced Monday afternoon.
The Gators rank first in the SEC and 17th in the nation in service aces with 1.80 aces per set. Florida is tops in the SEC and 24th in the nation with 2.64 rejections per set. The Gators also rank 21st nationally in hitting percentage with a .275 efficiency clip.
Florida returns to action on Friday when it plays host to Auburn. Opening serve in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center is slated for 4 p.m. ET and the match will be carried live on ROCK 104 (103.7 FM in Gainesville) with Tom Collett and Missy Whittemore.
