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The upcoming three-match series between Hawai’i and UC Santa Barbara will now officially be a showdown of No. 1 versus No. 2 in the national rankings.
UC Santa Barbara received one first-place vote and jumped ahead of BYU to the No. 2 spot in the latest Off the Block National Media Poll that was released on Tuesday.
Hawai’i earned all the other first-place votes to maintain the No. 1 ranking for the fourth consecutive week.
The Rainbow Warriors will open their three-match road series against the Gauchos on Thursday. The first two matches between the Big West teams will count as conference matches, while the series finale Saturday will be considered a non-conference match.
The National Media Poll is the only rankings in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball solely determined by media members. The 10 teams receiving the most votes are ranked in the National Media Poll, while other schools earning votes but finishing outside of the top 10 are considered teams receiving votes.
A new national media poll is released every Tuesday during the regular season on Off the Block’s website.
Off the Block National Media Poll
| Rank | Team | Record | Points | Previous | Trend |
| 1 | Hawai’i | 4-0 | 89 (8) | 1 | — |
| 2 | UC Santa Barbara | 4-0 | 76 (1) | 3 | +1 |
| 3 | BYU | 8-2 | 73 | 2 | -1 |
| 4 | Pepperdine | 7-2 | 63 | 4 | — |
| 5 | McKendree | 8-0 | 49 | 6 | +1 |
| 6 | Lewis | 10-2 | 46 | 5 | -1 |
| 7 | Grand Canyon | 2-4 | 26 | 8 | +1 |
| 8 | Long Beach State | 0-0 | 22 | 6 | -2 |
| 9 | Penn State | 12-2 | 17 | 9 | – |
| 10 | UCLA | 8-3 | 15 | RV | +1 |
Others receiving votes: NJIT 13; UC San Diego 3; Daemen 1; North Greenville 1; UC Irvine 1
Dropped out of rankings: UC Irvine, UC San Diego