After a weekend of upsets in college football, it’s only fitting that the volleyball team should pull off one of the biggest upsets the program has ever seen.
What’s not fitting about the win over No. 3 Stanford last weekend is that Saint Louis University did not make an entrance into the Top 25 after the tournament concluded.
It’s not like the team “squeaked by” against Stanford-it was over in four games. And no matter that the team handily defeated a top school in William and Mary and took a game off now No. 17 Illinois.
The rankings are based on a voting system from coaches around the country and the CBS College Sports Network.
Even before the Stanford upset, some coaches recognized Saint Louis University’s potential to dominate, as the Bills received seven votes, essentially placing them in the top 35.
With the win, they jumped to 134 votes, which puts them at No. 27 in the nation, just two spots away from the national recognition that the team is seeking and deserves.
At the same time, it’s not altogether surprising the team did not jump into the top 25. The polls are subjective, and SLU is still relatively an unknown.
While SLU’s ranking is both surprising and not surprising, maybe the timing is not right. The team has already proven it can compete against the best, so the next step is to continue winning against formidable opponents. Or, in other words, prove it again and again, until coaches around the country cannot deny that SLU is worthy of a top spot next to the other elite teams in the country.
Head coach Anne Kordes said she does not take much stock in the weekly polls. The team wants it because it’s a goal, but the team is not angry or resentful. As the team becomes more recognizable by other coaches and teams, there it not enough time to worry about rankings.
“Being in the top 25 has to be consisten,” head coach Anne Kordes said. “Yeah, we want it, but there are more important things on our plate at this point.”
Even though the team might not be ranked right now, one important aspect of the Stanford upset is that the team is now in the national spotlight; other teams and coaches are watching.
Step one: national recognition. Check. Now, the ball is (ironically) in the Billikens’ court to continue its success without the support of its home crowd at Chaifetz. The best teams are the ones that can play get the job done at home and on the road.
Another test awaits the team this coming weekend when it matches up against more of the nation’s top teams, starting with No. 16 Purdue.
“The rankings are determined by what the opponents think, and this weekend will determine whether they’re right or we’re right,” Kordes said.
