CIS Top Ten Tuesday (#7): CIS champs open at No. 1 in hockey and volleyball

OTTAWA (CIS) – The reigning national champions are ranked No. 1 in the first CIS hockey, volleyball and wrestling polls of the 2011-12 season.

In women’s hockey, the McGill Martlets, who are led for a fifth and final campaign by three-time Olympic gold medallist goaltender Charline Labonté, are off to a 3-0 start in conference play. McGill captured a third CIS title in four years last winter thanks to a 5-2 gold-medal win over St. Francis Xavier.

StFX, Laurier, Alberta and Guelph round out the inaugural top five.

In men’s hockey, the UNB Varsity Reds, who kicked off the AUS schedule with a pair of 3-1 wins over StFX and Saint Mary’s, received 15 of 17 first-place votes from a nationwide media panel, seven months after they claimed their third University Cup championship in five years.

McGill, Manitoba, Acadia and Saskatchewan are ranked second through five in the first Top 10.

In women’s volleyball, the UBC Thunderbirds were a logical choice at No. 1. The T-Birds, who open the Canada West season at Regina on Oct. 28, are vying for a remarkable fifth straight CIS title this year.

Alberta, Laval, Manitoba and Saint Mary’s complete the leading quintet.

In men’s volleyball, the Trinity Western Spartans, who will also kick off the regular season on Oct. 28 when they visit Saskatchewan, are looking for a second consecutive CIS banner after their triumph on home court last March.

Canada West rivals Alberta, Manitoba, Calgary and UBC follow in order in the inaugural coaches’ poll.

In wrestling, top-ranked Alberta and Concordia hope to repeat their exploits from last season when the Pandas claimed their first-ever CIS women’s team banner and the Stingers dominated the men’s championship for the sixth time in program history.

Meanwhile in soccer, there are changes at the top in both the women’s and men’s CIS rankings.

On the women’s side, the undefeated Montreal Carabins (9-0-1) take over at No. 1 for the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (10-2-0), who lost back-to-back games this past weekend, 1-0 to Waterloo and 2-1 to Windsor, after opening the regular schedule with 10 straight wins. Laurier falls to No. 5 in the new Top 10.

In men’s competition, the reigning CIS champion York Lions (10-1-3) return to the top after falling behind the UBC Thunderbirds a week ago. UBC (6-1-3) lost its first conference match of the campaign on Sunday, 1-0 to Victoria.

In women’s rugby, the defending CIS champion St. Francis Xavier X-Women (6-0) remain at No. 1 after they wrapped up the AUS schedule with a 95-0 domination of Saint Mary’s.

In cross country, Guelph tops both men’s and women’s rankings for the fourth consecutive week. The Gryphons have captured the last six CIS women’s titles and five straight men’s banners – both all-time records.

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
(points) / (previous rankings)

1. Guelph 95.3 points / (1)
2. McMaster 86.7 / (2)
3. Victoria 78.0 / (3)
4. Saskatchewan 59.3 / (5)
5. Western Ontario 55.3 / (4)
6. McGill 42.7 / (6)
7. Calgary 39.3 / (8)
8. Dalhousie 30.7 / (7)
9. Queen’s 20.7 / (9)
10. Alberta 10.0 / (NR)

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
(points) / (previous rankings)

1. Guelph 99.3 points / (1)
2. Windsor 90.0 / (2)
T3. Western Ontario 60.0 / (3)
T3. McMaster 60.0 / (5)
5. Victoria 55.0 / (6)
6. Queen’s 52.1 / (4)
7. Laval 45.7 / (8)
8. Regina 35.7 / (7)
9. Calgary 22.1 / (9)
10. Toronto 7.9 / (10)

WOMEN’S HOCKEY
(regular season record) / (votes) / (previous rankings)

1. McGill (3-0-0) / (-)
2. StFX (1-0-0) / (-)
3. Laurier (2-0-0) / (-)
4. Alberta (2-0-0) / (-)
5. Guelph (3-1-0) / (-)
6. Calgary (0-0-0) / (-)
7. Manitoba (0-2-0) / (-)
8. Saskatchewan (2-0-0) / (-)
9. Queen’s (2-1-0) / (-)
10. York (3-0-0) / (-)

Other teams receiving votes: Brock, Moncton.

MEN’S HOCKEY
(regular season record) / (votes) / (previous rankings)

1. UNB (2-0-0) / 165 pts (15) / (-)
2. McGill (4-0-0) / 141 (1) / (-)
3. Manitoba (4-0-0) / 131 (1) / (-)
4. Acadia (2-0-0) / 99 / (-)
5. Saskatchewan (3-0-0) / 89 / (-)
6. Western Ontario (3-0-1) / 83 / (-)
7. StFX (1-1-0) / 70 / (-)
8. Alberta (2-1-1) / 53 / (-)
9. Nipissing (4-1-0) / 43 / (-)
10. Waterloo (3-1-0) / 22 / (-)

Other teams receiving votes: UPEI (12), Queen’s (9), UBC (9), UQTR (7), Brock (1), Lakehead (1).

WOMEN’S RUGBY
(regular season / playoff record) / (votes) / (previous rankings)

1. StFX (6-0) / 101 points / (1)
2. Guelph (5-0 / 1-0) / 93 / (2)
3. Lethbridge (4-0) / 79 / (3)
4. Laval (6-0) / 74 / (4)
5. McMaster (5-0 / 1-0) / 60 / (5)
6. Concordia (4-2) / 43 / (6)
7. Alberta (3-1) / 39 / (7)
8. Queen’s (4-1 / 1-0) / 28 / (8)
9. McGill (4-2) / 20 / (9)
10. Calgary (2-2) / 11 / (T10)

Other teams receiving votes: Brock (6), Trent (3), Waterloo (2), Acadia (2).

WOMEN’S SOCCER
(regular season record) / (votes) / (previous rankings)

1. Montreal (9-0-1) / 50 points / (2)
2. Trinity Western (8-1-1) / 44 / (3)
3. Queen’s (12-1-1) / 38 / (6)
4. UBC (7-1-2) / 32 / (5)
5. Wilfrid Laurier (10-2-0) / 26 / (1)
6. Alberta (8-2-0) / 21 / (7)
7. UPEI (8-1-0) / 20 / (4)
8. Sherbrooke (7-1-2) / 16 / (8)
9. Toronto (10-1-3) / 14 / (9)
10. Ottawa (10-3-1) / 9 / (10)

Other teams receiving votes: Saint Mary’s (5), Windsor (2).

MEN’S SOCCER
(regular season record) / (previous rankings)

1. York (10-1-3) / 60 points / (2)
2. UBC (6-1-3) / 50 / (1)
3. Carleton (10-2-0) / 46 / (4)
4. Cape Breton (7-1-1) / 43 / (3)
5. Laval (6-2-1) / 31 / (6)
6. McMaster (8-2-4) / 27 / (7)
7. StFX (5-1-3) / 25 / (5)
8. Victoria (6-2-2) / 20 / (NR)
9. Toronto (8-2-1) / 19 / (9)
10. McGill (5-2-1) / 8 / (10)

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
(regular season record) / (votes) / (previous rankings)

1. UBC (0-0) / 60 points / (-)
2. Alberta (0-0) / 56 / (-)
3. Laval (0-0) / 50 / (-)
4. Manitoba (0-0) / 44.5 / (-)
5. Saint Mary’s (0-0) / 44 / (-)
6. Winnipeg (0-0) / 37.5 / (-)
T7. Montreal (0-0) / 32.5 / (-)
T7. McGill (0-0) / 32.5 / (-)
9. Calgary (0-0) / 25 / (-)
10. Trinity Western (0-0) / 22 / (-)

Next highest vote getters: Dalhousie (20), Regina (17), Brandon (15), Ottawa (12), StFX (4), Toronto (4).

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
(regular season record) / (votes) / (previous rankings)

1. Trinity Western (0-0) / 250 points / (-)
2. Alberta (0-0) / 220 / (-)
3. Manitoba (0-0) / 163 / (-)
4. Calgary (0-0) / 147 / (-)
5. UBC (0-0) / 144 / (-)
6. Laval (0-0) / 93 / (-)
7. Dalhousie (0-0) / 85 / (-)
8. Brandon (0-0) / 82 / (-)
9. Western Ontario (0-0) / 65 / (-)
10. Thompson Rivers (0-0) / 60 / (-)

WOMEN’S WRESTLING
(previous rankings)

1. Alberta (-)
2. Calgary (-)
3. Brock (-)
4. Lakehead (-)
5. Saskatchewan (-)
6. Western Ontario (-)
7. Concordia (-)
8. Guelph (-)
9. Memorial (-)
10. UNB (-)

MEN’S WRESTLING
(previous rankings)

1. Concordia (-)
2. UNB (-)
3. Regina (-)
4. Saskatchewan (-)
5. Guelph (-)
6. McMaster (-)
7. Western Ontario (-)
8. Alberta (-)
9. Lakehead (-)
10. Brock (-)

-CIS-