Women's Volleyball | 11/7/2018 5:53:00 PM

    INDIANAPOLIS – A big final weekend helped the West Liberty University volleyball team move up one spot to No. 9 in the Atlantic Region Wednesday afternoon when the NCAA Division II Regional Ranking Committee released its final regular season set of weekly rankings.
    The Atlantic Region Tournament field will be decided at the conclusion of this weekend's conference tournament play. The three tournament champions (MEC, PSAC and CIAA) receive automatic bids with the five top remaining teams in the rankings filling out the field.
    Tournament pairings for each of the eight NCAA Division II regionals will be announced Sunday at 10 p.m. via a live webstream on the NCAA's main website (www.ncaa.com). Regional tournaments will be played on the home floor of the highest seeded team.
    Coach Kayla Mull's Hilltoppers weren't the only MEC team making a move in this week's regional rankings as Wheeling Jesuit – riding a 23-match winning streak – moved up to No. 1 after wrapping up its sixth consecutive unbeaten run through the MEC regular-season schedule.
    Shepherd, the third MEC team in the rankings, dropped a spot from No. 6 to No. 7 despite winning all three matches during the week. Shepherd, West Liberty and unranked Charleston finished in a three-way tie for second place behind Wheeling Jesuit in the final MEC standings.
    Defending Atlantic Region champion Gannon dropped to No. 2 despite stretching its winning streak to 18 matches with a 3-0 sweep of East Stroudsburg – the only squad to beat Gannon this season. Three more PSAC squads – Shippensburg, Seton Hill and Clarion – round out the top five.
    California (Pa.) held off Shepherd for the No. 6 spot with Pitt-Johnstown at No. 8, the Hilltoppers at No. 9 and East Stroudsburg at No. 10.
    The Hilltoppers open MEC Tournament play on Thursday with a 5 p.m. quarterfinal match against West Virginia State.
                                                                                     Div. II
                                                       In-Region        Overall            Pvs
  1. WHEELING JESUIT           27-1                   31-3                   2
  2. Gannon                               26-1                   28-1                   1
  3. Shippensburg                    23-5                   24-6                   3
  4. Seton Hill                             20-5                   21-8                   4
  5. Clarion                                  19-7                   21-9                   7
  6. California (Pa.)                  18-7                   19-11                5
  7. SHEPHERD                          19-7                   22-9                   6
  8. Pitt-Johnstown                 17-11                 17-12                9
  9. WEST LIBERTY                   20-9                   21-9                   10
10. East Stroudsburg             20-10                 20-10                8