LEXINGTON, Ky. -- After winning its four weekend contests, Tampa earned its way to the No. 2 spot in this week’s AVCA coaches' poll. The Spartans enter the week with an 18-1 record after spending five consecutive weeks ranked third.
Concordia-St. Paul remains the top team while Minnesota-Duluth stumbles to No. 4. Undefeated Central Missouri (22-0) claims the No. 3 rank while BYU-Hawaii stands pat at No. 5.
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UT is coming off a four-win weekend as it swept its matchups at the UWF South Region Crossover Tournament, including a 3-1 triumph against then-No. 19 West Florida. The hosting Argonauts of UWF dipped to No. 21 in the latest poll after suffering two defeats during the weekend. Tampa and West Florida are the only south region teams recognized in this poll as Sunshine State Conference foe and the Spartans midweek opponent Rollins received votes.
Tampa leads the SSC with a 6-0 conference tally and has been victorious in 25 consecutive conference meetings dating back to Oct. 29, 2011. In addition, head coach Chris Catanach’s squad has earned a top-25 ranking for 237 polling periods in a row, a feat second only to No. 3 Central Missouri
For the second consecutive week, Berkley Whaley earned SSC Player of the Week honors as she leads UT with 206 kills and 26 service aces. Middle blocker Meagan Burke leads the team in hitting percentage with a .437 clip while fellow middle Jessica Wagner tops the defense with 77 total blocks this season. Libero Jen Scholz holds the dig lead with 161 to round out the Tampa defensive efforts.
