Video: Top plays from October
See the volleyball play that cracked the Top 10 football plays of the month.
Assumption (Louisville, Ky.), Avon (Ind.) and Dorman (Roebuck, S.C.) each won state titles over the weekend while Dorman climbed back into the MaxPreps Xcellent Top 25 National High School Volleyball Rankings presented by the Army National Guard.
For Assumption, which finished the season 40-3, it was the Rockets' 20th state championship since the state tournament started in 1979. The Rockets, who have 15 players committed to play college volleyball, did not lose a set during their final 15 matches.
The Rockets, ranked No. 1 in the MaxPreps Computer Poll, are unlikely to overtake the three teams ahead of them in the latest rankings. No. 3 Walton (Marietta, Ga.) is one of the three teams to beat Assumption this season. No. 2 Marist (Chicago, Ill.), which also beat Assumption, is also ranked ahead of the Rockets. Marist, however, needs two wins this week before it can lay claim to the top spot.
Dorman (Roebuck, S.C.) defeated previously-ranked Wando to win South Carolina's large school title for the second-straight season.
And Avon defeated Crown Point to win Indiana's D4 title and breaking last week's tie at No. 25 — the Xcellent Rankings' first tie of ranked teams in eight years.
Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.) won its 19th-straight match and returned to the Top 25. But the California playoffs are up next with the title games slated for early December.
With each new Top 25 and five remaining polls before a national champion is proclaimed, unbeaten teams from around the country continue to scream "What about us?"
• Lewis-Palmer (Monument, Colo.) finished the regular season 25-0 and has won 54 in a row over two seasons;
• Bishop Shanahan (Downington, Pa.) hasn't lost in 35 matches this season;
• Teurlings (Lafayette, La.) seeks its fifth-straight title having not lost this season in 39 matches;
• Flint Hill (Oakton, Va.) is 33-0;
• Led by senior
Raegan Steiner and the Bad Bear sisters (
Kola Bad Bear and
Courtney Bad Bear), Billings Senior (Billings, Mont.) opens the state tournament on Thursday at 36-0.
Then again, the three hottest teams in the country just might be: 59-2-2 Notre Dame Prep (Pontiac, Mich.) winners of 48 straight; 46-3 Rouse (Leander, Texas), winners of 30 in a row; or 58-1-3 George Washington (Charleston, W. Va.), which hasn't lost in 50 matches.
Reagan (San Antonio), however, is saying loud and clear: "We are STILL No. 1."
Reagan remained No. 1 for the fifth-straight week and continues in the postseason with 23-straight wins and a 42-1 record.
Marist, meanwhile, defeated Chicago rival Mother McAuley to move into Illinois state semifinals. A finals match up with another Top 25 team, Minooka, would take place Saturday if both win their semi games.
Marist, winners of 30 in a row, take on 31-3 Central (Crystal Lake) and Minooka, which lost to Marist in August, plays 37-3 St. Charles North, a winner of 25 straight. Both games are slated for Friday night.
Arizona, like Illinois, could have a pair of Top 25 teams meeting for a state title. Xavier College Prep (Phoenix) and Corona del Sol (Tempe) need semifinal wins on Tuesday to face off in Thursday's state 6A championship. Xavier College Prep is the only team to defeat Corona del Sol this season, having done so twice.
MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Volleyball Rankings presented by the Army National Guard
Camryn Ennis, Reagan
Photo by Kenneth Toso
West Orange (Winter Garden, Fla.), Crown Point (Ind.), Wando (S.C.).
