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Long Beach State will enter the postseason as the top-ranked team in the nation.
The 49ers received all but three first-place votes to finish at No. 1 in the new Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Media Poll that was released Tuesday.
This is the second consecutive week that the 49ers finished atop the national rankings. In addition, Long Beach State closed out the regular season winning its final three matches and clinched the No. 1 seed for the upcoming MPSF Tournament.
Long Beach State earned 12 more points than No. 2 Ohio State in the final media poll of the regular season. Ohio State and No. 3 BYU were the only other schools to receive first-place votes.
Hawai’i and UC irvine also round-out the top five of the media poll.
The Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. 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.
The next and season’s final media poll will be released following the NCAA Tournament in May.
Off the Block is a website that started in January 2011 and has become the nation’s leader in college men’s volleyball coverage. Springbak, Inc. is the official sponsor of the National Media Poll and produces high performance footwear used by professional athletes from the NFL, NBA, MLB and U.S. Olympic teams and the top college teams in the nation.
OFF THE BLOCK/SPRINGBAK, INC. NATIONAL MEDIA POLL (Week 14)
1. Long Beach State — 107 (8) points
2. Ohio State — 95 (2) points
3. BYU — 92 (1) points
4. Hawai’i — 72 points
5. UC Irvine — 67 points
6. UCLA — 53 points
7. Lewis — 47 points
8. Pepperdine — 34 points
9. Stanford — 17 points
10. Loyola — 6 points
Others receiving votes: USC 5; Grand Canyon 4; Ball State 3; Penn State 2