Iowa State's Rachel Hockaday

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
A Look at Last Night's Highlights
There were two big matchups of nationally-ranked teams last night in Big 12 action, but both of those ended in sweeps. No. 13 Iowa State got 15 kills from sophomore outside hitter Rachel Hockaday and edged No. 22 Texas A&M by scores of 26-24, 25-21, 26-24, while No. 7 Nebraska won 28-26, 25-17, 25-17 on the road against No. 17 Baylor. Junior libero Kayla Banwarth had 22 digs for the Huskers, while junior setter Sydney Anderson led NU to a .320 hitting mark.

The other ranked teams that played on Wednesday had little trouble. No. 2 Texas moved to 13-0 with a 25-16, 25-22, 25-12 win at Kansas. Senior All-America outside hitter Destinee Hooker had 18 kills and sophomore Michelle Kocher set the Longhorns to a .356 attack percentage. Senior libero Ashley Edinger had 19 digs in leading No. 10 Illinois to a 25-20, 25-16, 25-19 victory against Northwestern. No. 4 Hawai'i had its scheduled match against Louisiana Tech postponed until Monday when severe weather cancelled the Bulldogs' scheduled flights to Honolulu.

Jordana Price and Florida State are No. 2 in the RPI

The first edition of the official NCAA RPI came out this week. You can view it here. Below are some observations:

• It shouldn't come as a huge surprise that Texas is atop the RPI, since the Longhorns are unbeaten and eight of their victories have come against ranked teams. The more interesting thing is that two-time defending NCAA champion and current national No. 1 Penn State is not second in the RPI. Instead, the Nittany Lions - riding an NCAA-record 82-match winning streak - are third. Florida State - which is ranked 17th - is second in the RPI. The Seminoles are 15-2, with their defeats both coming in five sets - against Florida and Georgia Tech. FSU's top wins have come against Illinois, Notre Dame and Duke.
• Both Arizona and LSU also are considerably higher in the RPI than in the AVCA poll. The Wildcats are ranked 18th, but sixth in the RPI - while LSU moved into the rankings at 24th this week, but is 11th in the RPI.
• There are four teams that appear in the top 20 of the RPI but are not ranked in the AVCA poll: Michigan State (14th), Notre Dame (16th), Florida International (18th) and Tennessee (20th).
• Ohio is 24th in the RPI, but is not even receiving votes (and appearing on multiple ballots) in the AVCA poll.
• Four of the top seven teams in the RPI are from the Big Ten: No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Illinois, No. 5 Michigan and No. 7 Minnesota.
• Hawai'i is ranked third in this week's AVCA poll, but the Rainbow Wahine are just 25th in the first RPI.
• Other teams appearing considerably lower in the RPI than in the AVCA poll include Stanford (ranked 5th; RPI of 17th), Nebraska (7th; 27th), UCLA (12th; 26th), Saint Louis (20th; 33rd), UC Irvine (21st; 54th) and San Diego (23rd; 52nd).
• If the NCAA Championship field was determined based soley on this RPI listing, and you assume that each conference's automatic bid goes to its highest-ranked team - then the last four teams to make the field as at-large participants would be Northwestern, Middle Tennessee, Georgia Tech and Miami (Fla.). The first four teams out would be Kansas, San Diego, Virginia Tech and UC Irvine.
• A field determined in that way would include nine teams each from the Big Ten and the Pac-10, as well as six from the Big 12, four each from the ACC and SEC, plus three from the Missouri Valley Conference and two each from the Atlantic 10, BIG EAST, Big West, Mountain West and Sun Belt. All other conferences would have just one participant.

Kanani Danielson and the Rainbow Wahine have their highest ranking in five years

The seventh in-season edition of the AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 was released on Monday. You can view it here. Here are a few notes:

• Big victories last weekend propelled Texas A&M (22nd) and LSU (24th) into the Top 25 this week, with both Michigan State (18th last week) and Washington State (25th) dropping out following 0-2 weekends.
• Texas A&M is in the rankings for the first time since Sept. 10, 2007, and it is the highest ranking for the Aggies since they were 20th on Sept. 19, 2005. LSU reenters the poll for the first time since Sept. 1, 2008.
• The Pac-10 still leads all conferences with seven ranked teams (all at 18th or higher), while the Big 12 boasts a season-high five squads in the rankings this week. The Big Ten has a season low of four teams in the rankings, but all of them are among the top 11. The SEC has a season-high three teams ranked while the Big West is the only other league with multiple ranked squads.
• For the seventh consecutive week, the Big Ten has three teams - No. 1 Penn State, No. 6 Minnesota and No. 10 Illinois - ranked among the top 10.
• The biggest upward movers this week were UCLA and Arizona, which both rose four spots. The Bruins are now 12th and the Wildcats are 18th, which matches a season high. The largest drop was by Long Beach State, which is down five positions to 25th.
• Penn State is No. 1 for the 31st consecutive poll - an AVCA record - since taking over the top spot on Oct. 29, 2007, while Texas has been No. 2 in every poll this season (which matches the highest ranking in program history).
• PSU received 53 first-place votes (five more than last week), while UT got seven (down two from last week). This is the first poll all season in which only two teams are receiving first-place votes - as Washington had garnered at least one in every previous edition.
• Hawai'i slid up a spot to third this week - which marks the highest ranking for the Rainbow Wahine since Dec. 6, 2004.
• Kentucky climbed two more spots to eighth, which is the highest listing for the Wildcats since Oct. 5, 1993.
• Florida State moved up two spots to 17th to match the highest ranking in program history, first done on Oct. 12, 1993, and also done two weeks ago.
• Though no teams from the Missouri Valley Conference are ranked, three league members - Northern Iowa (listed 31st), Missouri State (T-34th) and Wichita State (36th) - are receiving votes.
• Florida International is receiving votes in this week's poll, listed in a tie for 40th with nine points. It is just the second time in history that the Panthers have received votes in the AVCA poll.

The latest edition of NCAA statistics also were released on Monday. The complete listings can be found here. The Division I leaders in each category are below.

TEAM
Service Aces - Georgia State, 2.22
Assists - Texas A&M, 14.25
Blocks - Texas, 3.21
Digs - NJIT, 20.82
Hitting Percentage - Penn State, .421
Kills - Penn State, 15.07
Winning Percentage - Penn State and Texas, 1.000
INDIVIDUAL
Service Aces - Heather Meyers, Oregon, 0.70
Assists - Alisha Glass, Penn State, 12.20
Blocks - Alli Arbogast, USF, 1.69
Digs - Sabrina Baby, NJIT, 6.63
Hitting Percentage - Arielle Wilson, Penn State, .576
Kills - Yun Yi Zhang, Temple, 5.64