North's Big 3 hard to separate in Women's Volleyball State Top 25 Rankings
State Top 25 Rankings, click here
Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the North Region had established a change of power among the elite in indoor women's volleyball. Four of the last five state champions from 2015-2019 were teams from the North. When Cabrillo College made history as NorCal's first champion in 2013, it ended the South Region's monopoly of 36 consecutive large school state titles going back to the beginning of state tournaments in 1977.
In 2021, Fresno City College, state champions in 2016 and state semifinalists in 2019, Feather River, the defending state champs from 2019, and West Valley, a state quarterfinalist in 2018, have all already occupied the state's No. 1 ranking in the early weeks with Fresno the top squad in this week's CCCWVCA State Women's Volleyball Top 25. The Golden Eagles are #2 and West Valley dropped from sharing last week's #1 ranking with the Rams to #4.
The separation of the three schools is so minimal that each could make a case for the top spot. Fresno is 11-2 overall, both losses to West Valley, but the Rams swept WVC in a third meeting and then ended Feather River's 23-match win streak that went back to the '19 season (nine straight wins this year). Fresno won the 8-team Delta Classic title on Sept. 10-11 with its win over WVC in the finals. Feather River leads the state in victories with a 12-1 mark, including a recent 4-set win over West Valley.
The Vikings are 7-2 and despite a 5-0 start to the season, they have experienced a recent downturn with #19 Sierra forcing them to five sets only to see WVC pull out the victory at 15-11 in the decider game. Also hard to say West Valley is "slumping" when you consider its two losses were to the other two elite squads and it handed FCC its only defeats thus far. All three teams expect to be participants at the 2021 CCCAA State Championship Tournament this Dec. 3-5, hosted by the Central Valley Conference at Fresno.
While the North's elite are seemingly locked in as state title contenders, the South Region is anyone's guess at this point. The South has also had three different leaders in the rankings, first San Diego Mesa, then Cypress and this week Pasadena City College coming in at #3 as SoCal's highest-ranked squad. The Lancers are 7-1, including wins over #5 Cypress, #12 MiraCosta and last Friday's 5-set triumph over #10 Mt. San Antonio. Their only loss was in five sets at #9 Moorpark. PCC hasn't been ranked this high since the 2009 season when it was the South's #1-seeded team in the playoffs.
Cypress has won eight straight matches since an opening day loss to PCC, including victories over now #7 SD Mesa, #16 Long Beach City, #21 Grossmont and #24 Canyons. Bakersfield is 5-1 and has moved up to #6 behind wins over #8 Santa Barbara CC, Moorpark and Mt. SAC. But San Diego Mesa handed the Renegades their only loss and the Olympians (7-3) are an example of just how wide open the South is this season. Mesa has victories over three current top 10 ranked teams in Bakersfield, Santa Barbara and Moorpark and other wins over #22 Fullerton and Canyons. A great resume for South #1 except the team's losses are to #11 Irvine Valley, Cypress, and Long Beach.
At No. 8, Santa Barbara (9-2) is a solid South team with wins over #18 Sequoias, Mt. SAC, Long Beach, and Fullerton but the Vaqueros losses are to Bakersfield and...San Diego Mesa. Moorpark (7-3) is #9 and another hard team to figure out. The Raiders have their win over Pasadena as well as victories over Fullerton, #20 Ventura, and MiraCosta. But their losses are against Mesa (four sets) and sweep defeats v. Mt. SAC and Bakersfield.
That leads us to #10 Mt. San Antonio (6-3) and yet the Mounties are literally 10 points away from being undefeated as their losses all went five sets v. #3 Pasadena (15-13 fifth set), #6 Bakersfield (15-12) and #8 Santa Barbara (15-10). Among Mt. SAC's wins were against Moorpark and Fullerton.
Number 11-ranked Irvine Valley, the only South state champion since 2013 with title runs in 2014 and 2017, is no longer guided by Tom Pestolesi who retired as Lasers head coach after his final IVC team had a 27-match win streak snapped in a 5-set state finals loss to Feather River in 2019. The Lasers (4-1) lost to MiraCosta but clearly are still a potential contender with wins over SD Mesa and Canyons. At #12, MiraCosta (6-2) scored 5-set wins over Irvine Valley and Canyons and its losses are to top 10-ranked Pasadena and Moorpark.
College of San Mateo (8-3) moved up to #13 and has wins over #14 American River, #19 Sierra and #23 San Joaquin Delta (twice). ARC (9-4) has a 5-set win and 5-set loss against San Mateo and also downed Sequoias in 5.
Orange Coast (8-0) stands at #15 and Golden West (6-0) at #25 as the only undefeated teams left in the state. However, the two Orange Empire Conference teams are a bit of a mystery with the Pirates at least having a 5-set win over #16 Long Beach and a conference-opening win over #22 Fullerton. GWC has yet to lose even a single set (18-0) but faced not a single current Top 25 team.
Rounding out the Top 25 are #16 LBCC, #17 Cabrillo, #18 Sequoias, #19 Sierra, #20 Ventura, #21 Grossmont, and #24 Canyons. The South had 16 teams make it on to this week's rankings compared to nine in the North.
Coaching Milestone: Solano College head coach Darla Williams recently recorded her 300th career victory
New Programs Meet: On Sept. 13, Copper Mountain swept Compton in a meeting of two brand new volleyball programs. It was Copper Mountain's first-ever win.
Still Waiting: San Jose City College has yet to play a match this year and its 2021 debut will be Sept. 29 v. San Mateo. The Jaguars will play a 13-match, Coast Conference schedule only.
CCCWVCA State Players of the Week, click for all the selections
Release by Robert Lewis, CCCWVCA SID