When looking at the new coaches poll released Monday night, coach Joel Walton said, he was not surprised by the results.
The Ball State University men's volleyball team dropped two spots in the poll to No. 8 after finishing the weekend 1-1, with a four-game loss to No. 12 George Mason University.
"It is what it kind of is," Walton said. "We beat all the ranked opponents we played to move up and then we suffered that loss."
With Ball State's loss, the University of California at Irvine and UCLA moved ahead of the Cardinals in Monday's poll.
UC-Irvine moved up two spots to No. 7 after defeating No. 3 Cal State Northridge and No. 14 University of California at Santa Barbara during the weekend.
In addition, UCLA jumped up one spot to No. 6 following a win against Cal State Northridge and a loss to UC-Santa Barbara. Earlier this season, the Cardinals defeated the Bruins in two matches at Worthen Arena.
Walton said some of his players will be upset UCLA is ranked ahead of Ball State, but he also said with the polls being complicated, he understands why the Bruins are ranked higher.
"I'm a little disappointed, but it's nothing I'm going to lose sleep over," Walton, a voting member of the coaches poll, said. "When you vote each week there are some guys who are going to try to figure out that equation to see who beat who. Then there are some guys who are not going to look at those results and are going to vote based who they think are the better teams."
Ball State received 119 votes, 23 fewer votes than in last week's poll. The Cardinals remain the highest ranked team in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association and will play second-place Ohio State University on Thursday for a chance to win the conference regular season championship.
Ohio State received 108 votes to move up one spot to No. 9 after it swept George Mason and Rutgers-Newark University during the weekend. Prior to its Ball State match, the Buckeyes will play IPFW at 7 p.m. in Fort Wayne.
Walton said he will keep track of the match's results throughout the night, and he has already requested the match video to help the Cardinals prepare for Thursday and the MIVA Tournament.
"We are very interested," Walton said. "That match is going to be critical."
Coaches poll
| Team | Record | Votes |
| 1. Penn State | 24-1 | 240 |
| 2. BYU | 21-4 | 212 |
| 3. CSNU | 21-5 | 206 |
| 4. Long Beach | 21-5 | 200 |
| 5. Pepperdine | 12-9 | 164 |
| 6. UCLA | 16-12 | 151 |
| 7. UC Irvine | 14-13 | 138 |
| 8. Ball State | 18-8 | 119 |
| 9. Ohio State | 15-7 | 108 |
| 10. USC | 13-13 | 105 |
| 11. Stanford | 15-10 | 96 |
| 12. GMU | 17-7 | 75 |
| 13. Hawaii | 10-15 | 54 |
| 14. UCSB | 9-16 | 26 |
| 15. Lewis | 19-8 | 17 |
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