Big 8 makes big splash in this week's State Women's Volleyball Top 25

October 28 State Rankings, click here

(PASADENA) -- The big 3 in women's volleyball this year have been steady in #1 Irvine Valley, #2 Feather River and #3 Fresno City Colleges, but it's the Big 8 Conference that has again made its presence known in what else--a big way--as part of the eighth 2019 CCCWVCA State Women's Volleyball Top 25 released Monday evening. 

American River, the state defending champions, could be poised to make another championship run as it jumped six spots into the #4 spot. After a sluggish beginning at 6-6, the Beavers have won 10 straight matches. San Joaquin Delta climbed two spots to #5 and stand tied with ARC for the current top spot in the Big 8 race. Sierra also has made a successful move in leaping five slots to #9 thanks in part to a recent sweep over now #10 Folsom Lake, a team that had won six in a row including a sweep over Feather River back on Oct. 5, but was tripped up by first ARC in five sets and then Sierra. The Falcons fell four spots. Santa Rosa JC is at #20 to give the Big 8 five teams on the rankings.

Irvine Valley continues to be the state's only undefeated team at now 17-0 as the Lasers have won 51 of 54 sets played this season. Feather River (26-2) has a 29-match Golden Valley Conference win streak going while Fresno City (23-2) has won its last 36 consecutive sets and has the state's longest conference winning streak at 123 straight victories in Central Valley play. The Rams are close to clinching their 13th consecutive CVC crown. 

The North region, winners of three of the last four state titles, has seven teams now in the top 10 with #8 Cabrillo holding on to its spot from the previous week. Like Fresno, Cabrillo has a monster win streak in Coast Conference-counting matches with a streak now at 116 in a row dating back to 2007. 

The South's Pacific Coast Athletic Conference continues to also make its mark this year as a case in point for #6 San Diego Mesa, which fell two spots after being drawn into 5-set wars in victories over unranked San Diego City and Imperial Valley. Grossmont didn't do anything wrong to fall two spots to #7 but the Griffins were swept by the Olympians on Oct. 11 in their first conference matchup. Mesa is on a 12-match win streak while Grossmont is 13-1 in its last 14 contests. Another PCAC team in the top 25 is #16 MiraCosta.

Few teams have played as few matches as #11 Moorpark, now 12-3 but having won eight straight. The Raiders have just three matches left, two v. LA Mission, but don't play again until Nov. 6. El Camino's 11-match win streak has allowed the South Coast Conference frontrunner to stay at #12. Bakersfield was affected by the Big 8 ripple effect and despite a 9-match win streak and winning its last 26 sets dropped two spots to #13. West Valley moved up seven rungs on the ladder to #14 but has done so more off of a brilliant run in non-conference play that included wins over American River, Delta, Sierra and Cabrillo. On a 14-match win streak is #15 Chaffey, now 17-1 overall.

A newcomer in the rankings is #23 Solano, a team that has won 42 straight sets, but during this run hasn't even allowed an opponent to score 20 points in a single game. 

Matches of the Week
American River d. Folsom Lake, 13-25, 25-20, 25-19, 21-25, 15-10 
San Diego Mesa d. Imperial Valley, 19-25, 25-15, 17-25, 25-14, 16-14
Orange Coast d. Saddleback, 25-13, 18-25, 23-25, 25-22, 15-12
Chaffey d. Mt. San Jacinto, 28-26, 25-20, 24-26, 25-23
San Diego Mesa d. San Diego City, 27-25, 25-19, 22-25, 23-25, 15-10
West Hills Coalinga d. Taft, 22-25, 25-15, 28-26, 13-25, 15-13

Conference Leaders
North
Bay Valley--Solano 10-0, Los Medanos 7-1
Big 8--American River, SJ Delta 8-1, Sierra 8-2
Central Valley--Fresno City 11-0, Sequoias 9-1
Coast North--Cabrillo 6-0, Foothill 5-1
Coast South--Gavilan 6-0, West Valley 5-1
Golden Valley--Feather River 6-0, Butte 6-1
South
Inland Empire Athletic--Chaffey 4-0, Desert, Mt. San Jacinto 3-1
Orange Empire--Irvine Valley 10-0, Fullerton 7-2
Pacific Coast Athletic--San Diego Mesa 10-0, Grossmont 10-1
South Coast--El Camino 10-0, Long Beach City, 9-1
Western State North--Moorpark 7-0, Ventura 4-2
Western State South--Bakersfield 9-0, Canyons 6-2

 Release by Robert Lewis, for the CCCWVCA