The first RPI ranking of the 2018 NCAA women’s volleyball season has been released, and its 12-1 Stanford that sits atop the rankings, not 15-0 BYU or 15-0 Pitt.

The Cardinal were the preseason #1 team in the country in both the VolleyMob Power Rankings and the AVCA Coaches’ Poll this season, but when they lost to BYU in their 3rd match of the season, they lost that spot in both rankings.

But the Cardinal have played a brutal schedule early in thee season, and wins over top 10 teams Penn State, Minnesota, and Texas (twice), plus other “plus” wins over UCLA and USC have been enough to cover-up that loss.

14-1 Illinois, who lost their first match of the season last week against Nebraska, comes in at #3 in the first ranking, well ahead of 13-1 Nebraska at #8.

The first big surprise is USC, who are ranked #4 even with 4 losses already this season. Two of those losses have come to Stanford and BYU. Texas, with the 2 losses to Stanford and a 3rd to Wisconsin, ranks 5th.

Other surprise/noteworthy rankings:

12-3 UCF comes in at #14. Their 3 losses were all to solid teams (Louisville, Miami, and Florida), and their win over USC is a highlight. They are unranked in both the VM and AVCA rankings.

The defending NCAA runners-up Florida are only #26. They’ve got a win over aforementioned UCF, but losses to Texas, USC, and the shocker against Northern Arizona. A win over Nebraska in game 1 of the season isn’t apparently enough to offset that loss to Northern Arizona, who are #150 in the RPI.

The ratings are not a required pecking-order for selection and seeding of the NCAA Championship tournament, but the selection committee has shown that they rely on it heavily, as compared to the human polls, when assembling the field of 64 for December.

The RPI system, used in basketball, baseball, softball, hockey, soccer, lacrosse, and volleyball, is designed to help committees select teams for the 64-team NCAA tournament as well as the seeding of those teams once they get there.

The index comprises a team’s winning percentage (25%), its opponents’ winning percentage (50%), and the winning percentage of those opponents’ opponents (25%).

As compared to the VolleyMob Power Rankings, the RPI rankings calculated mathematically. The intent is to create a more objective ranking to juxtapose the subjectivity of the AVCA poll, though by their nature there is still some subjectivity as to which numbers matter more than others in their calculations.

Top 25 Comparison

SCHOOL RECORD RPI Ranking VolleyMob Ranking AVCA Coaches’ Poll Stanford 12-1 1 2 2 BYU 15-0 2 1 1 Illinois 14-1 3 7 7 USC 11-4 4 9 12 Texas 8-3 5 6 4 Pittsburgh 15-0 6 8 8 Washington 11-3 7 14 15 Nebraska 13-1 8 3 3 Wisconsin 10-2 9 5 6 Kentucky 9-4 10 16 18 Michigan 13-2 11 17 16 Purdue 13-2 12 23 14 Marquette 12-4 13 15 19 UCF 12-3 14 – – Minnesota 10-2 15 4 5 Cal Poly 15-1 16 13 13 Washington State 11-3 17 20 22 South Carolina 13-1 18 – – Baylor 10-5 19 22 23 Northern Iowa 10-6 20 – – Creighton 12-4 21 11 10 Penn State 11-3 22 12 9 UCLA 7-4 23 21 17 Saint Mary’s 11-3 24 – – Rice 12-4 25 – – Florida 13-3 26 10 11 Oregon 9-5 32 19 20 Arizona 14-2 35 18 21 Louisville 11-4 36 – 25 Utah 9-6 43 – 24 Iowa 10-5 49 25 – Colorado 9-6 62 24

Full NCAA Division I RPI Rankings