Less than two weeks from the end of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season, the UAA volleyball team is on the bubble when it comes to making the NCAA Division II West Regional Championships.
The Seawolves fell from fifth to ninth in the latest West Region rankings, released by the NCAA on Wednesday. Teams that don't win their conference must be in the top eight to make the regional tournament.
UAA (18-8, 12-2 GNAC) is tied for first in the conference with Western Washington (22-3, 12-2), which will visit the Seawolves on Thursday at 7 p.m., at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex. After that, UAA has three matches left in the regular season, which ends Nov. 23.
UAA is one of four GNAC teams ranked in the top 10, joining Western Washington at No. 5, Central Washington at No. 6 and Northwest Nazarene at No. 10.
Central Washington rose a spot in the rankings, despite last week's loss to last-place Montana State-Billings. Nazarene dropped two spots, despite earning road sweeps over Montana State-Billings and Seattle Pacific.
UAA won its only match last week, a four-set home victory over UAF.
The top three spots in the rankings belong to UC San Diego (21-3), BYU-Hawaii (21-1) and Cal State San Bernardino (20-5), which all swept UAA earlier this season.
The final regional poll will be released Nov. 20, leading to the announcement of the NCAA Tournament field on Nov. 24.
Anchorage