Volleyball slots in 4th place in the latest region rankings from the NCAA
The NCAA announced its first round of region rankings, slotting Eagles Volleyball at its highest region ranking since 2022 in fourth.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The NCAA announced its first round of region rankings, slotting Eagles Volleyball at its highest region ranking since 2022 in fourth.
While Carson-Newman was ranked last season in the NCAA region rankings, this is the highest regional ranking since 2022 when the Eagles were ranked 3rd.
The only teams ranked above Carson-Newman is the standing are the fellow SAC competitors, all of which C-N dropped the head-to-head matches to. Despite this, Carson-Newman's successful weekend at the USC Aiken Tournaments saw victories over fellow ranked teams like Aiken and Francis Marion, boosting the Eagles above all the other teams under consideration.
Aside from the four SAC schools at the top of the Southeast Region, five schools from the Peach Belt Conference are also represented, including fifth-ranked Flagler (18-11), sixth-ranked Augusta (22-7), seventh-ranked Lander (17-8), and eighth-ranked Francis Marion (20-9) and USC Aiken (14-13) who is a new addition to the poll in ninth. One school from the Conference Carolinas rounds out the rankings with Converse (20-7). Emmanuel dropped out since the last round of rankings.
Carson-Newman holds solo possession of 5th place in the Southeast region in terms of RPI at .595. Augusta bests the Eagles with a .598 advantage in the RPI standings and holds the edge in terms of strength of schedule.
The Eagles have a .516 strength of schedule this season. Flagler, who is right behind C-N in RPI has the strongest schedule in the Southeast region, while Carson-Newman has the 16th hardest schedule.
The Eagles are 43rd nationally in the KPI rankings, which assigns a positive or negative value to wins and losses throughout the season. Wingate (6th), Anderson (29th), and Lenoir-Rhyne (36th) all beat C-N in the KPI rankings, as it stands.
Carson-Newman still has one more game in the regular season to play plus a SAC Quarterfinal game before the final round of region rankings from the NCAA come out on November 19th, followed by the AVCA rankings.
The Eagles currently are a subject of a potential tiebreak for third place with Lenoir-Rhyne in the conference standings at 13-4. If the Bears lose to LMU on Friday and the Eagle win, Carson-Newman would hold the third seed in the tournament. If both teams win, the Eagles would fall to fourth place due to the head-to-head match between L-R and C-N earlier in the season.
Carson-Newman plays its final regular season game at 7:00 PM Friday evening at Holt Fieldhouse against the Newberry Wolves. Coverage is available on FloSports.
