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The run at an undefeated season is over, but Long Beach State remains atop a critical bracketology category.
Long Beach State stayed at No. 1 in the latest RPI rankings that the NCAA released on Monday.
A team’s RPI ranking is calculated using a mathematical formula that includes its winning percentage, strength of schedule and opponents’ strength of schedule. RPI also is one of the criteria categories the selection committee uses to determine the NCAA Tournament field.
The Beach’s maintained its top ranking after splitting a home-and-home series against UC Irvine during the weekend. Long Beach State entered the series as the nation’s only remaining undefeated team and on a 20-match winning streak before suffering a three-game home loss on Friday.
UC Irvine following the series remains at No. 3 in the RPI and moves within a hundredth percentage points from Long Beach State.
Hawai’i was ranked No. 2 in the RPI and now trails Long Beach State by almost a thousandth percentage points. In addition, UCLA and Loyola round out the top five of the rankings.
An updated RPI rankings will be released each Monday throughout the regular season and conference tournaments. The final RPI rankings before the nine-team NCAA Tournament will be unveiled on Selection Sunday.
RPI rankings (March 31)
1. Long Beach State
2. Hawai’i
3. UC Irvine
4. UCLA
5. Loyola
6. McKendree
7. BYU
8. USC
9. Grand Canyon
10. UC San Diego
11. Pepperdine
12. Lincoln Memorial
13. CSUN
14. Ohio State
15. Ball State
16. Lewis
17. Mount Olive
18. Princeton
19. Stanford
20. UC Santa Barbara
21. Lindenwood
22. Belmont Abbey
23. George Mason
24. Harvard
25. Penn State
26. Queens
27. Long Island
28. Purdue Fort Wayne
29. NJIT
30. Fort Valley State
31. St. Thomas Aquinas
32. Tusculum
33. Catawba
34. Saint Francis
35. Maryville
36. Charleston
37. Concordia
38. Barton
39. Daemen
40. Missouri S&T
41. Sacred Heart
42. Quincy
43. North Greenville
44. Merrimack
45. Vanguard
46. Rockhurst
47. Barry
48. Fairleigh Dickinson
49. Edward Waters
50. Erskine
51. D’Youville
52. Thomas More
53. Dominican
54. King
55. Menlo
56. Emmanuel
57. Lees-McRae
58. Roberts Wesleyan
59. Roosevelt
60. Benedict
61. Central State
62. Jessup
63. American International
64. Morehouse
65. LeMoyne-Owen
66. Kentucky State