For the second time in three weeks, the Ball State University men's volleyball team is out of the top 15 coaches poll.
The Cardinals dropped from their No. 13 ranking in the newest poll released Monday after they went 1-1 last week.
Ball State (2-4, 1-0 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) received 17 votes - 21 fewer votes than last week - and is listed at No. 16 in the weekly poll. The Cardinals lost in three-games to then-unranked George Mason University on Thursday and swept Rutgers-Newark University on Friday.
Coach Joel Walton said he was not surprised that Ball State fell from the coaches poll because of the team's losing record.
"It's not something that crushes," he said. "It motivates me. It reminds me we have more to do."
This is the second fewest amount of votes Ball State received in the coaches poll this season. Ball State was unranked and received a season-low 10 votes in the Jan. 26 coaches poll when it lost its first two matches against nationally-ranked teams to open the season.
Walton said moving out of the rankings might be a good thing for his team.
"We have a lot of competitors," the coach said. "It's hard to be complacent when you have people placing you in the ranking where you don't think you belong."
Ball State was the only team to drop out of the top 15 coaches poll for last week.
As a voter in the coaches poll, Walton said he ranked the Cardinals No. 13 in his ballot this week. He also said ranked George Mason at No. 10.
George Mason received 62 votes - 56 more votes than last week - to move into the poll at No. 11. It is the first time the Patriots (4-1, 1-0 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) are in the national rankings since the Jan. 26 poll.
In addition to Ball State, two other teams from the MIVA dropped in the new coaches poll.
Ohio State University (5-5, 1-0 MIVA) dropped two spots to No. 14 after losing in five games to George Mason. Lewis University (5-2, 1-1 MIVA) moved down one spot to No. 15 following its sweeps against IPFW and Grand Canyon University.
This is the fewest amount of MIVA teams to be in the top 15 coaches poll since February 2005.
Walton said the biggest reason for this decrease is the MIVA's inability to win non-conference matches against ranked teams. The coach said though that he is not concerned about the state of the conference.
"I think as the season goes along and teams continue to improve and teams have the chance to play strong teams, there will be more MIVA wins against the non-conference opponents," Walton said.
The EIVA also had two teams in the coaches poll, including No. 1 Penn State University. The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, a 12-team conference, had 11 teams ranked in the poll.
"There is a lot of parody out on the West Coast," Walton said. "So much so that coaches who lost to teams still think they are capable of beating other people."
Ball State will next play against the Milwaukee School of Engineering at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Worthen Arena.
The match is the Cardinals' first of three consecutive matches against Division III teams. The next time Ball State plays a Division I-II team will be a home conference match against IPFW on Feb. 27.
Despite playing Division III during the next two weeks, Walton said there is a chance Ball State could move back into the top 15 before its next MIVA match.
"The fact that our record is improving and other people have bad losses could move us back into the poll," he said. "I'm not worrying about the poll and how to work our way back into the poll and what we need to get the poll. We just need to go out and continue to improve."
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