With the No. 11 IU water polo team going 4-0 in the Claremont Convergence, it seems the only way to go in the rankings is up. Each win was against a Division-III team, but all were in the top five of the D-III rankings, and IU's average margin of victory was 8.25 goals.
Of course, that alone isn't enough for a rise in the rankings; a higher team must falter to open the door. This appears to have happened to No. 10 San Jose State. The Spartans only played one game over the weekend. It was against No. 2 Stanford, who has been No. 1 in six of the eight weekly polls so far, but it was a win of pure dominance for the Cardinal, 15-4.
It's unlikely IU will move up any further than No. 10. No. 9 Long Beach State, who beat IU 7-4 back on Feb. 23, also beat four D-III teams in the Claremont Convergence, but did so with an average victory margin of 12.75 goals. The 49ers do have one more match before the new rankings come out, however. They play unranked Bucknell Tuesday at 10 p.m. Should they lose that match, a door would open for the Hoosiers to climb up to a season-best No. 9 ranking.
Here's a rundown of how teams No. 8 through No. 14 did since the most recent rankings came out.
No. 8 Hawaii:
No. 18 Michigan, W 9-3
No. 9 Long Beach State:
No. 4 (D-III) Redlands, W 16-4
No. 6 (D-III) Whittier, W 22-5
No. 8 (D-III) La Verne, W 14-3
No. 3 (D-III) Pomona-Pitzer, W 14-3
Bucknell 10 p.m. Tuesday
No. 10 San Jose State:
No. 2 Stanford, L 15-4
No. 11 IU:
No. 2 (D-III) Cal Lutheran, W 16-5
No. 1 (D-III) Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, W 14-8
No. 5 (D-III) Occidental, W 12-7
No. 4 (D-III) Redlands, W 15-4
No. 12 Princeton:
George Washington, W 15-3
No. 13 UC Davis:
No. 15 (T) Cal State Northridge, L 11-10
No. 15 (T) UC Santa Barbara, L 8-7
No. 14 Loyola Marymount:
week off
