October 19, 2010

BlackBerry - CIS Top Ten Tuesday (#8): Laval, Alberta open at No. 1 in volleyball

OTTAWA (CIS) – The Laval Rouge et Or and Alberta Golden Bears are ranked No. 1 in the first CIS women’s and men’s volleyball coaches’ polls of the season, respectively.

Alberta also opens at No. 1 in the inaugural men’s hockey Top 10 of 2010-11.

In other sports, the only change at the top this week is in men’s soccer, where the undefeated StFX X-Men (9-0-0) leapfrog reigning national champion Laval (8-1-0) following the Rouge et Or’s first loss of the regular season, a 2-1 setback against new No. 10 UQAM (5-3-1) last Friday.

Meanwhile, McGill (women’s hockey), Alberta (women’s soccer), Lethbridge (women’s rugby), McMaster (women’s cross country) and Guelph (men’s cross country) all hold on to their No. 1 positions.

In women’s volleyball, No. 2 Manitoba, No. 3 Alberta, Brandon and Montreal - who are tied at No. 4 - No. 6 and reigning CIS champion UBC, No. 7 Winnipeg, No. 8 Dalhousie, No. 9 Calgary and No. 10 Guelph follow in order behind Laval.

The top-ranked Rouge et Or, who claimed the bronze medal at the CIS championship last march, enjoyed a solid pre-season as they compiled a 6-1 record – all versus CIS opponents – including a pair of home wins over 2010 national finalist Manitoba, on Oct. 15-16.

Conference play in women’s volleyball gets under way this weekend in the OUA and AUS, while the schedule starts a week later in Quebec and Canada West.

In men’s volleyball, No. 2 Laval, No. 3 Trinity Western, No. 4 Brandon, No. 5 and reigning national champion Calgary, No. 6 Western Ontario, No. 7 Manitoba, No. 8 Dalhousie, No. 9 McMaster and No. 10 Queen’s round out the inaugural Top 10.

The No. 1 Golden Bears, who captured CIS bronze last spring, open at No. 1 for the fourth straight year. They show a 7-2 pre-season mark this fall – 5-2 versus CIS rivals – including a four-set victory over defending champion Calgary on Oct. 15.

Men’s volleyball conference play kicks off this weekend in Ontario and next week in the rest of the country.

In men’s hockey, the 2010 CIS finalist Golden Bears open at No. 1 for the ninth time in 13 years. Alberta is 3-1 after two weekends of Canada West action.

No. 2 McGill (4-0), No. 3 UNB (1-1), No. 4 StFX (2-0), No. 5 and defending University Cup champion Saint Mary’s (1-1), No. 6 Saskatchewan (2-2), No. 7 Moncton (2-0), No. 8 Ryerson (4-1), No. 9 Manitoba (1-1) and No. 10 Western Ontario (2-0-1) complete the first media poll of the campaign.

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
(points) / (previous rankings)

1. McMaster 90.8 pts / (1)
2. Guelph 90.0 / (2)
3. Victoria 68.5 / (3)
4. Calgary 59.2 / (4)
5. Western Ontario 53.1 / (5)
6. Alberta 47.7 / (7)
7. Queen’s 38.5 / (9)
8. McGill 35.4 / (6)
9. Dalhousie 23.1 / (8)
10. Windsor 10.0 / (NR)

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
(points) / (previous rankings)

1. Guelph 97.9 pts / (1)
2. Windsor 87.1 / (2)
3. Calgary 65.7 / (5)
4. Victoria 64.3 / (3)
5. Western Ontario 58.6 / (4)
6. Queen’s 43.6 / (9)
7. Regina 32.1 / (8)
8. McMaster 31.4 / (6)
9. Alberta 20.7 / (7)
10. Toronto 18.6 / (NR)

WOMEN’S HOCKEY
(regular season record) / (previous rankings)

1. McGill (1-0-0) / (1)
2. Wilfrid Laurier (4-0-0) / (2)
3. Manitoba (1-1-0) / (4)
4. Alberta (2-2-0) / (3)
5. StFX (1-0-0) / (5)
6. Guelph (3-0-0) / (8)
7. Montreal (0-0-1) / (6)
8. Windsor (3-0-0) / (NR)
9. Regina (3-1-0) / (NR)
10. Saint Mary’s (0-2-0) / (7)

Other teams receiving votes: Concordia (3), Queen’s (1), Calgary (1).

MEN’S HOCKEY (first rankings of season)
(regular season record) / (votes – first-place votes) / (previous rankings)

1. Alberta (3-1-0) / 159 pts (2) / (-)
2. McGill (4-0-0) / 139 (6) / (-)
3. UNB (1-1-0) / 116 (7) / (-)
4. StFX (2-0-0) / 107 / (-)
5. Saint Mary’s (1-1-0) / 91 (2) / (-)
6. Saskatchewan (2-2-0) / 59 (2) / (-)
7. Moncton (2-0-0) / 49 (1) / (-)
8. Ryerson (4-1-0) / 43 / (-)
9. Manitoba (1-1-0) / 41 / (-)
10. Western Ontario (2-0-1) / 38 / (-)

Other teams receiving votes: Waterloo (37), Wilfrid Laurier (28), Concordia (27), Queen’s (23), Acadia (10), UPEI (5), Regina (5), Lakehead (4), Windsor (3), Calgary (2), UQTR (2), Carleton (1), Guelph (1).

NOTE: McGill improved to 4-0-0 in conference play on Monday night with a 6-3 win over UQTR but that result was not taken into consideration in this week’s voting; it will affect the Oct. 26 Top 10.

WOMEN’S RUGBY
(regular season record) / (votes) / (previous rankings)

1. Lethbridge (4-0) / 182 pts / (1)
2. Guelph (5-0) / 173 / (2)
3. StFX (6-0) / 146 / (3)
4. Concordia (6-0) / 125 / (4)
5. Alberta (3-1) / 100 / (5)
6. Laval (4-2) / 89 / (6)
7. Queen’s (5-0) / 83 / (7)
8. McMaster (4-1) / 49 / (8)
9. Waterloo (4-1) / 38 / (9)
10. Victoria (2-2) / 10 / (NR)

Other teams receiving votes: Ottawa (6), Acadia (4), McGill (3), UBC (1).

WOMEN’S SOCCER
(regular season record) / (votes) / (previous rankings)

1. Alberta (9-0-1) / 50 pts / (1)
2. McGill (8-0-2) / 45 / (2)
3. Montreal (8-1-1) / 35 / (3)
4. Queen’s (12-2-0) / 34 / (6)
5. Wilfrid Laurier (10-1-2) / 31 / (4)
6. Ottawa (10-1-3) / 27 / (5)
7. Dalhousie (7-0-2) / 20 / (7)
8. UBC (7-3-1) / 13 / (10)
9. UPEI (6-0-3) / 11 / (9)
10. Laval (7-1-2) / 4 / (NR)

MEN’S SOCCER
(regular season record) / (votes) / (previous rankings)

1. StFX (9-0-0) / 59 pts / (2)
2. Laval (8-1-0) / 53 / (1)
3. Alberta (9-1-0) / 52 / (4)
4. York (11-2-1) / 36 / (8)
5. UBC (6-2-2) / 32 / (5)
6. Toronto (8-1-3) / 30 / (T6)
7. Western Ontario (10-1-3) / 29 / (3)
8. Carleton (9-2-2) / 22 / (T6)
9. Saint Mary’s (6-2-2) / 12 / (10)
10. UQAM (5-3-1) / 4 / (NR)

Other teams receiving votes: Trinity Western (3).

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL (first rankings of season)
(regular season record) / (votes) / (previous rankings)

1. Laval (0-0) / 55 pts / (-)
2. Manitoba (0-0) / 51.5 / (-)
3. Alberta (0-0) / 50 / (-)
T4. Brandon (0-0) / 42 / (-)
T4. Montreal (0-0) / 42 / (-)
6. UBC (0-0) / 41 / (-)
7. Winnipeg (0-0) / 31.5 / (-)
8. Dalhousie (0-0) / 30 / (-)
9. Calgary (0-0) / 29.5 / (-)
10. Guelph (0-0) / 24.5 / (-)

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL (first rankings of season)
(regular season record) / (votes) / (previous rankings)

1. Alberta (0-0) / 208 pts / (-)
2. Laval (0-0) / 197 / (-)
3. Trinity Western (0-0) / 177 / (-)
4. Brandon (0-0) / 171 / (-)
5. Calgary (0-0) / 144 / (-)
6. Western Ontario (0-0) / 102 / (-)
7. Manitoba (0-0) / 97 / (-)
8. Dalhousie (0-0) / 74 / (-)
9. McMaster (0-0) / 39 / (-)
10. Queen’s (0-0) / 38 / (-)

-CIS-