Padua Franciscan (Parma, Ohio) went into the Louisville Invitational Volleyball Tournament unranked in the Super 25. By the time the tournament was over, Padua Franciscan had wins over two of the top five teams in the country.
Padua Franciscan defeated then-No. 1 Assumption and then-No. 4 Mater Dei en route to a LIVT championship. The team put itself on the national map with those two victories and it shows in the latest rankings: it is No. 2 in the Super 25 now after being unranked previously.
FULL RANKINGS: Super 25 Volleyball Rankings, Week 4
“They’re really fast, they really hit the ball on the seam and they’re good at hitting around the block,” Assumption senior Claire Fuller told the Louisville Courier about Padua Franciscan.
Assumption lost to Mater Dei on Thursday, before its matchup with Padua Franciscan, making the team 11-2 on the year and moving it down to No. 4 in the rankings. Mater Dei, despite the tough loss to Padua Franciscan, moves up one spot in the rankings to No. 3 this week.
The newest No. 1 team is Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, California). At 15-1, Redondo Union has key wins over Mater Dei, Byron Nelson (Trophy Club, Texas) and Cathedral Catholic (San Diego). Its one loss is to Torrey Pines (San Diego), which sits at No. 9 in the rankings this week.
There are six new teams in the rankings this week, though at least one of those teams will look pretty familiar. New Castle (Indiana), after ranking fifth in Week 2, was knocked out of the rankings in Week 3. The team is back, however, and is No. 22 overall. The team has started the year 13-1.
