Women's Volleyball | 11/2/2026 11:23:00 AM
ERIE, Pa. – The Gannon volleyball team remains ranked first in the Atlantic Region and leads all Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) teams in the latest NCAA Division II National Power Index (NPI) rankings released Monday, November 2.
The Golden Knights, under 20th-year head coach
Matt Darling, hold a 20-4 overall record and a 10-2 mark in PSAC West play, sitting in second place in the division behind IUP (11-1).
Gannon leads both the Atlantic Region and PSAC in the NPI rankings, sitting at No. 26 nationally with a rating of 61.436, narrowly ahead of IUP, which ranks second in both the region and conference and No. 30 nationally with a rating of 61.007.
Just 0.429 points separate the two PSAC programs at the top of the Atlantic Region rankings.
The NPI is a new ranking system adopted by Division II for the 2026-27 academic year to help evaluate teams for NCAA Tournament selection. The system uses a data-driven formula that considers a team's wins and losses, strength of schedule and quality of opponents.
Unlike traditional rankings, the NPI evaluates teams on a national scale, allowing programs from different conferences and regions to be compared using the same system.
Gannon leads a group of seven PSAC programs ranked among the top 10 in the Atlantic Region. IUP follows at No. 30 nationally, while Shepherd (No. 37), Lock Haven (No. 56), Clarion (No. 63), Kutztown (No. 81) and East Stroudsburg (No. 82) round out the conference representation.
The Golden Knights enter the final week of the regular season riding a five-match winning streak after defeating Clarion in five sets and sweeping Slippery Rock last weekend at the Highmark Events Center.
Gannon returns to PSAC West action this weekend with a pair of road matches, beginning Friday, November 6, at Pitt-Johnstown at 6 p.m. The Golden Knights will then travel to Indiana, Pa., on Saturday, November 7, to face first-place IUP at 6 p.m., with the matchup carrying significant implications for the final PSAC West standings.
