No one was more surprised than coach Joel Walton when he saw the Ball State University men's volleyball team move back into the national rankings.
Despite Walton not even voting for his team, the Cardinals received 17 votes and were ranked No. 15 in the top 15 coaches poll released Monday — two days after Ball State swept then-No. 3 Cal State Northridge University.
"It scares me more than anything," Walton said. "We haven't put together a strong enough body of work for anyone to be confident in our team. Our guys have to prove to me that we got it and can regularly play at a high level."
Prior to defeating Cal State Northridge, Ball State was winless in six attempts against nationally ranked teams — including getting swept by the Matadors on Friday.
This is the first time Ball State (13-8, 4-4 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) has been ranked since opening the season at No. 13 and losing to Loyola University in its season opener. In last week's poll, the Cardinals received two votes.
Walton is one of 16 voting members in the coaches poll. The coach said he plans to talk to his players at practice this week about the rankings and make it clear his team should not be content at No. 15.
"It's important to me to let our guys know that we haven't accomplished anything yet," he said. "We can't be happy teetering on the edge of the coaches poll."
With the loss to Ball State, Cal State Northridge dropped two spots to No. 5 with 183 votes — 23 fewer votes than in last week's poll.
Ball State's moving into the top 15 poll wasn't Walton's only problem with the newest poll.
The Cardinals were one of three MIVA teams ranked in this week's poll.
Ohio State University stayed at No. 13 with 61 votes — four more votes than last week's poll.
Walton said he is shocked Ohio State (14-7, 6-1 MIVA) is not ranked higher, especially after beating No. 9 Penn State University on the road two weeks ago. The coach also said Ohio State should be ranked higher than No. 11 UC Irvine (11-12, 6-10 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation).
"Irvine is the one I don't get," Walton said. "They just shouldn't be ranked that high."
Loyola remained the highest ranked MIVA team at No. 12. The Ramblers received 73 votes — eight more votes than last week's poll — after defeating IPFW and George Mason University during the weekend.
Coming off of its weekend upset, Ball State will play Penn State at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Worthen Arena. The Nittany Lions, which swept the Cardinals in February, moved down three spots in the coaches poll following a loss to unranked Rutgers-Newark University.
Walton said moving back into the rankings won't give his team any extra confidence heading into the match.
"We garnered some respect beating a team that had been ranked No. 3, and that's the best way to look at it," he said. "I know if we continue to win we can keep that spot, but if lose and are teetering to hold on, it won't remain."
Coaches poll
1. Stanford (15-4) — 240 votes
2. Pepperdine (13-6) — 215 votes
3. BYU (16-7) — 205 votes
4. Hawai'i (15-8) — 191 votes
5. Cal State Northridge (16-7) — 183 votes
6. USC (11-9) — 151 votes
7. UCLA (14-9) — 142 votes
8. Long Beach State (12-11) — 126 votes
9. Penn State (18-5) — 109 votes
10. UC Santa Barbara (10-13) — 86 votes
11. UC Irvine (11-12) — 81 votes
12. Loyola (16-3) — 73 votes
13. Ohio State (14-7) — 61 votes
14. UC San Diego (8-15) — 27 votes
15. Ball State (13-8) — 17 votes
Others receiving votes: Lewis 12
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