WILDCATS NO. 1 -- WSC volleyball moves to top of AVCA poll

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Wayne State’s volleyball team is now the No. 1 team in the country as the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association coaches poll was released Monday afternoon.

Wayne State received 42 of 47 first-place votes and moved up two spots on the strength of road wins last week at Upper Iowa and Winona State, along with losses from then-No. 1 Tampa and No. 2 Washburn, both of whom lost last week and fell to No. 5 and No. 6, respectively, in this week’s poll.

Three of the top four teams in the country are from the Northern Sun Conference, including No. 3 Concordia-St. Paul and No. 4 St. Cloud State, both of whom moved up two spots. Southwest Minnesota State and Minnesota Duluth also moved up one spot to No. 8 and No. 9, respectively.

This is the third time WSC has been ranked No. 1 in the AVCA poll and the first time since they were ranked No. 1 on the weeks of Oct. 4 and Oct. 25, 2010.

The top-ranked Wildcats will face two tough road challenges this week, as they play at No. 4 St. Cloud State on Friday and at No. 9 Minnesota Duluth on Saturday.

This week’s AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll is as follows (last week’s ranking in parenthesis):

1. Wayne State (3)
2. MSU Denver (4)
3. Concordia-St. Paul (5)
4. St. Cloud State (6)
5. Tampa (1)
6. Washburn (2)
7. Nebraska-Kearney (8)
8. Southweset Minnesota State (7)
9. Minnesota Duluth (10)
10. Western Washington (9)
11. NW Missouri State (13)
12. West Florida (11)
13. Cal State San Bernardino (12)
14. Alaska-Anchorage (14)
15. Lewis (15)
16. Barry (18)
17. Central Missouri (16)
18. West Texas A&M (17)
19. Regis (20)
20. Colorado Mesa (21)
21. Colorado School of Mines (19)
22. Hillsdale (22)
23. Cal Poly Pomona (25)
24. Wingate (24)
25. Nova Southeastern (NR)