IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
No. 3 Hawai'i continued to roll with another dominant victory, this time by 25-12, 25-15, 25-15 scores on the road against San Jose State on Monday. Junior Dani Mafua set the Rainbow Wahine to 45 kills and just seven errors for a .458 atack percentage. Sophomore outside hitter Kanani Danielson had 15 kills on .519 hitting and senior middle Amber Kaufman posted 11 kills on 13 errorless swings for an .846 mark. Since dropping back-to-back matches to Texas and California on the first weekend of September, Hawai'i has won 17 in a row - including 14 sweeps. The Rainbow Wahine - which have won at least a share of the regular-season title in all 13 previous seasons of membership in the WAC - hold a 2.5 game lead in the conference standings.

Ellie Blankenship and Northern Iowa are ranked for the first time in nearly six years

This week's edition of the AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 was released yesterday. You can view it here. Here are a few notes:

• There are two new entrants in the poll this week, both of whom reenter the Top 25 for the first time in several years and are tied with each other for 25th.
• Northern Iowa is one of those teams tied for 25th. The Panthers have won 20 straight matches and stand 22-2 on the season, with the only defeats coming against No. 23 Texas A&M (3-1 on the road) and No. 8 Iowa State (3-1 at home). It marks the first national ranking for UNI - which leads the Missouri Valley Conference by two games with a 12-0 record - since it finished the 2003 season at 18th.
• Saint Mary's is also tied for the final spot, marking the first national ranking for the Gaels since Oct. 10, 2005. SMC stands 16-4 on the season with the defeats coming against No. 5 Stanford, No. 13 California (twice) and 22nd-ranked San Diego. The Gaels - who lead the Toreros by one game atop the West Coast Conference standings - also have a four-set victory over Texas A&M to their credit.
• After losing twice last week, UC Irvine fell out of the Top 25 and is now the third team receiving votes.
• The Pac-10 still leads all conferences with eight ranked teams, while the Big 12 boasts five squads in the rankings this week. The Big Ten has four ranked teams (all in the top 15), while the SEC has three and the West Coast Conference is the only other league with multiple ranked squads (two).
• The top four teams are all from different conferences, marking the 10th consecutive week that has been the case. The top 10 features three teams each from the Big 12 and Pac-10, as well as two from the Big Ten and one each from the WAC and SEC.
• The biggest upward mover this week was UCLA, which rose four spots to seventh, matching its season high. The largest drop among teams remaining in the poll was by Minnesota, which is down five slots to 12th.
• Penn State is No. 1 for the 34th consecutive poll - an AVCA record - since taking over the top spot on Oct. 29, 2007. PSU has been ranked in the top five for 76 consecutive polls, since finishing seventh in 2004. The Lions have been ranked in the top 10 in 93 straight polls, since checking in at 11th on Dec. 8, 2003.
• Texas has been No. 2 in every poll this season (which matches the highest ranking in program history). The Longhorns have been ranked in the top five for 27 consecutive polls, since being sixth to finish the 2007 season. UT has been in the top 10 in each of the last 54 polls, since being 11th on Oct. 2, 2006.
• Washington moved up a spot to fourth and is the only other team to have been in the top five in every poll this season.
• Illinois and Stanford are tied for fifth this week. That listing marks the highest ranking for the Illini since Sept. 22, 1992.
• Iowa State has recorded the highest ranking in program history for the fifth time in less than a year. The Cyclones were a then-all-time-best 12th in the final poll of 2008, before moving to 11th for the first time on Sept. 7 of this season and then cracking the top 10 for the first time the following week. ISU then moved up to ninth last week and is now an all-time high of eighth.
• Nebraska slid two spots to match its season-low ranking of 10th. The Cornhuskers did continue their streak of 92 straight top-10 rankings - dating back to finishing the 2003 season at 13th.
• Florida State is up to an all-time high ranking of 16th after appearing at 17th on five occasions before (once in 1993 and four times this season).
• LSU is up a spot to 19th - which is the highest ranking for the Tigers since they were 18th on Oct. 8, 2007.

Brittnee Cooper and LSU are up to seventh in the RPI

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

• Penn State slid up a spot past Florida State to second in this week's RPI, while Texas continued to hold on to the top spot. Illinois stayed at fourth, while Washington moved up two spots to fifth.
• For the fourth straight week, the Big Ten boasted three of the top six teams: No. 2 Penn State, No. 4 Illinois and No. 6 Minnesota. Six Pac-10 squads - No. 4 Washington, No. 7 UCLA, No. 9 Stanford, No. 11 California, No. 13 Arizona and No. 15 Oregon - are among the top 15.
• Two big upward movers this week were UCLA and LSU, which both rose six positions, to sixth and seventh, respectively.
• Notre Dame moved up one spot to 14th this week and continues to be the highest-ranked team in the RPI that is not listed in the Top 25 of the AVCA poll. The Irish are the second team receiving votes.
• There are five other teams - Colorado State (19th), Tennessee (20th), Florida International (22nd), Michigan State (23rd) and Ohio State (25th) - that are unranked but appear in the top 25 of the RPI.
• Among the others that fared better in the RPI than in the AVCA poll are Florida State (ranked 16th; RPI of 3rd), Minnesota (12th; 6th), LSU (19th; 8th), Michigan (15th; 10th) and Arizona (18th; 13th).
• Teams that appear considerably lower in the RPI than in the AVCA poll this week include Hawai'i (ranked 3rd; RPI of 18th), Florida (9th; 17th), Nebraska (10th; 16th), Kentucky (11th; 21st), USC (17th; 33rd), Baylor (20th; 30th), Saint Louis (21st; 32nd), San Diego (22nd; 55th), Texas A&M (23rd; 34th), Washington State (24th; 38th) and Saint Mary's (25th; 46th).
• 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 Miami (Fla.), New Mexico, Oklahoma and North Carolina. The first four teams out would be Georgia Tech, Oregon State, San Diego and Virginia Tech.
• A field determined in that way would include eight teams from the Pac-10, as well as seven from the Big Ten, six from the Big 12, four each from the ACC and SEC, plus three from the BIG EAST, Missouri Valley and Mountain West and two each from the Atlantic 10, Big West and Sun Belt. All other conferences would have just one participant.

Florida State's Brianna Barry is hitting .527 this season

The latest edition of NCAA statistics also were released on Monday. The complete listings can be found here. A couple of quick notes:

• The NCAA Division I season record for hitting percentage is .519, which was done by Tyrona Clark from Florida A&M in 1988 (the only other DI player ever to hit over .500 for a season also was a Rattler: Maria Andonova, who hit .504 in 2004). Right now there are two players who are ahead of that pace. Penn State junior middle hitter Arielle Wilson leads all players with a .569 mark, while Florida State senior middle blocker Brianna Barry is at .527.
• Penn State, at .412, is on pace to break the Division I season record for team hitting percentage - a category the Nittany Lions have led the country in over each of the last three seasons. The DI record is .406 by the 1983 Hofstra team. Last year's PSU squad sits second on that list at .390. No other Division I team has a hitting percentage of even .330 this season, and only five schools are hitting over .290.
• The top three teams in hitting percentage match exactly the top three teams in the AVCA poll: Penn State (.412), Texas (.329) and Hawai'i (.310).

The Division I leader in each category is below.

TEAM
Service Aces - Sacred Heart, 2.37
Assists - Texas A&M, 14.16
Blocks - Idaho, 3.11
Digs - NJIT, 20.24
Hitting Percentage - Penn State, .412
Kills - Texas A&M, 14.96
Winning Percentage - Penn State and Texas, 1.000
INDIVIDUAL
Service Aces - Ashley Herman, Delaware State, 0.65
Assists - Kendall Bateman, USC, 12.23
Blocks - Amanda Gil, UCLA, 1.61
Digs - Sabrina Baby, NJIT, 6.29
Hitting Percentage - Arielle Wilson, Penn State, .569
Kills - Burgundy McCurty, Siena, 5.48