The FrogJump Top 20 is our Power Ranking of the DIII Men’s Volleyball Landscape. Our algorithm uses a host of different variables, including the cumulative statistics of D3VB men’s programs throughout the season. This allows us to reflect the ever changing dynamics within the landscape as teams compete to be the best in the nation.
The better a team performs, the higher they’ll climb in our model. As it stands, only match data up to 3/21/2022 was taken into account.
- Springfield (18-1): The Pride come back from spring break with the intent to shake off some rust. They have four matches this week, playing Regis (Wednesday), Rivier (Thursday), and both SUNY Poly and Eastern Nazarene this Saturday.
- Carthage (13-3): The Firebirds will look to regain the momentum they had at the start of Spring Break, taking on Illinois Wesleyan tonight before heading to North Central College on Saturday for a CCIW rivalry game.
- Dominican (16-1): The Stars are coming off an undefeated week with big regional wins over Aurora and Loras. They’ll play Illinois Tech tonight, before hosting UC Santa Cruz this Friday.
- North Central (16-1): The Cardinals are coming off a huge win in-region win over California Lutheran and will hit the road tonight to play Augustana. Their big test of the week will come Saturday, when they host Carthage in a rematch of their 4-set battle from earlier this season.
- Southern Virginia (15-2): The Knights round out our top 5 coming off of Spring Break, they’ll play Liberty tonight, but will have one of the biggest matches of the season to date this Friday when they hit the road to play Rutgers-Newark.
- Rutgers-Newark (18-3): The Scarlet Raiders had a big week, with wins over Misericordia, Marymount, and Randolph-Macon. They’ll host Southern Virginia this Friday in a huge CVC clash.
- Vassar (14-4): The Brewers got upset by the ever-competitive Stevenson Mustangs, but were able to bounce back with a win over the breakout Marymount squad. They’ll rest for a few days before taking on New Paltz in a HUGE UVC rivalry game. Eye’s peeled on this one.
- Stevens (21-3): The Ducks got a big MAC win over Stevenson to help cement their claim as the top dog of the MAC. They’ll play Misericordia tonight, before hosting Alvernia and Wilkes in a tri-match this weekend.
- Wentworth (19-4): The Leopards are 4-0 since their California trip and are coming off a big cincoset win over in region rival Endicott last night. They remain the favorites for the GNAC championship.
- Stevenson (17-7): The Mustangs finally break into the top 10 of our model, following a season where they have consistently played the toughest schedule of all D3VB teams. The experience is paying off, as they have consistently knocked off top 5 teams throughout the year, with their most recent victim being the vaunted Vassar Brewers. The momentum was cut down by Stevens, but they have a HUGE game against Messiah tonight which has match of the year candidate written all over it.
- Marymount (20-6): The Saints had a mixed week, falling to Rutgers and Vassar but winning against a renewed Kean and Randolph-Macon. They’ll travel to Huntington this weekend to play Immaculata and Juniata in a CVC tri-match.
- Juniata (19-5): The Eagles will celebrate Senior night Friday versus Lancaster Bible, before hosting a tri-match between themselves, Immaculata, and Marymount.
- St. John Fisher (18-7): The Cardinals survived a four-set battle against a very competitive Misericordia squad, but don’t have much time to rest as conference play is heating up. Every UVC game is huge at this point in the season, and they have MIT (3/25) and Nazareth (3/30) on the docket.
- Loras (18-4): The Duhawks were SOOOOOOO close to upsetting Midwest power Dominican last week. They were able to reclaim some momentum with conference wins over Augustana and North Park, and they’ll hit the road to play Millikin tonight before playing St. Norbert on Saturday.
- SUNY New Paltz (15-4): My hometown hawks entered spring break with a win over DI/II St.Francis – Brooklyn. Their end of season gauntlet doesn’t let up, as they take on a well rested NYU squad tonight, before heading to Vassar on Saturday.
- Messiah (14-3): The Falcons will put their 12 match win streak to the test tonight, as they take on Stevenson in a huge MAC matchup with conference tournament seeding implications.
- Nazareth (17-6): The Golden Flyers are fresh off a win over a surging Elmira squad and hold steady at 17 this week. They’ll take on DI/II D’Youville tonight, before hosting MIT this weekend in a UVC matchup.
- Benedictine (11-7): The Eagles have rattled off three NACC wins over MSOE, Lakeland, and St. Norbert since their loss to DI/II Daemen. They’ll take on Illinois Institute of Technology this Saturday, before finishing regular season play against Marian (4/1) and CUW (4/2).
- Elmira (16-10): Coach Miranda is building something special upstate, as he has the Soaring Eagles literally soaring into our top 20 for the first time this year. Elmira showed their win over MIT earlier this season was no fluke, and sit on a 5 match win streak with a big UVC win over St. John Fisher. They’ll be resting for the remainder of March before returning to play New Paltz on April 1st.
- Endicott (12-5): The Gulls saw their win streak snapped in cincosets last night in a tightly contested battle with top 10 Wentworth. They’ll take on Elms tonight, before playing SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Poly this weekend. As it stands they remain the favorites in the NECC and will look to round out the season getting ready for NCAA’s.
Announcement
Keep your eyes out for a special pond talk this week, as Regional Rankings are announced and the contributors and I give you our takes on what the first rankings mean for the potential post season.
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