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Washington’s hold on No. 1 reaches nine weeks in the 2018 USA Today/NFCA DI Top 25 Coaches Poll

LOUISVILLE, Ky. –  Washington enters its ninth straight week at No. 1 in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Huskies (41-2) swept then-No. 25 California in a rain-shortened Pac-12 series and brought their winning streak to 12 games. For the second consecutive week they were one vote shy of being the unanimous No. 1 squad, collecting 31 of a possible 32 first-place votes and 799 points.

Oklahoma received the other first-place vote and ran its winning streak to 29 games after posting a 5-0 week. The Sooners (38-2) cruised through Big 12 play with wins over Iowa State (9-1) and a sweep of Kansas (5-0, 15-4, 10-1). In its toughest contest of the week, OU rallied from a 6-0 deficit to edge Wichita State, 7-6.

UCLA returned to No. 3 after a Pac-12 sweep of then-No. 12 Arizona (7-6, 7-3, 10-3) in Tucson, while Oregon fell a spot to No. 4 following a Pac-12 series win at then No. 7 Arizona State. The Ducks (34-7) took the first two contests (3-0, 9-1), but fell to the Sun Devils (34-7), 4-0, in the finale.

Florida and Georgia traded spots at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively. The Gators (37-7) posted a 4-1 week with a victory over then-No. 15 Alabama, 3-2, and a three-game SEC sweep of then No. 11 South Carolina (3-1, 7-0, 3-0). UF did drop a mid-week contest at then-No. 13 Florida State, 4-1. The Bulldogs (37-6) defeated Georgia State, 7-0, and split a doubleheader against Mercer (2-5 in 8 inn., 7-5).

No. 7 Tennessee moved up three positions following a 4-0 week, defeating Memphis, 8-0, and sweeping then-No. 14 LSU (4-2, 3-2, 6-4 in 8 inn.) in a tightly contest SEC series in Knoxville.

Arizona State, Texas A&M and Florida State round out the top 10. The Sun Devils dropped two-of-three at home to Oregon, while the Aggies (36-10) collected an SEC series win over No. 20 Kentucky (9-2, 4-3, 2-3). The Seminoles (36-8) return to the top 10 for the first time since Week 2’s poll. FSU knocked off then-No. 6 Florida, 4-1, and took two-of-three from Boston College (0-1, 5-4, 5-0) on the road in ACC play.

Oklahoma State makes its way back into the poll at No. 24. The Cowgirls (32-12) bounced back from a loss to UT Arlington by defeating Missouri State, 3-0, on the road and sweeping their Big 12 series from then-No. 16 Baylor (14-6, 2-1, 5-1). Hofstra makes its first appearance this season as the Pride (28-8) have won 10 straight and 18 of their last 19 contests.

Then-No. 22 Ohio State and then-No. 25 California each dropped out of the poll for the first time since joining it in Week 1.

The 2018 USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches, one representing each conference. Records reflect games played through April 15.

 

 

2018 USA Today / NFCA Division I
Top 25 Coaches Poll – April 17 (Week 10)

Rank

School

Totals

2018

Last Poll

1

Washington (31)

799

41-2

1

2

Oklahoma (1)

768

38-2

2

3

UCLA

730

37-3

4

4

Oregon

708

34-7

3

5

Florida

661

37-7

6

6

Georgia

627

37-6

5

7

Tennessee

581

37-8

10

8

Arizona State

576

34-7

7

9

Texas A&M

551

36-10

9

10

Florida State

490

36-8

13

11

Auburn

449

36-10

8

12

South Carolina

426

34-10

11

13

Arizona

404

27-12

12

14

Michigan

371

35-7

17

15

LSU

361

32-10

14

16

Arkansas

325

33-9

19

17

Alabama

273

26-13

15

18

Long Beach State

185

33-9

18

19

Mississippi State

175

32-11

23

20

Kentucky

170

26-13

20

21

Baylor

157

25-13

16

22

Louisiana

143

27-11

21

23

Texas State

123

31-9

24

24

Oklahoma State

90

32-12

RV

25

Hofstra

68

28-8

RV

 

New to Poll: No. 24 Oklahoma State, No. 25 Hofstra

Dropped Out: No. 22 Ohio State (26-10), No. 25 California (26-13)

 

Receiving Votes: California (47), Ohio State (46), James Madison (42), Kennesaw State (22), Oregon State (12), Mercer (10), USF (5), Northwestern (2), Drake (1), Nebraska (1).

The 2018 USA Today / NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches with one representing each of the NCAA’s Division I Conferences. Records reflect play through April 15, 2018