LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For the 10th-straight week, defending national champion Virginia Wesleyan, Texas Lutheran and Texas-Tyler are the top three teams in the NFCA Division III Top 25 rankings.
This week, the top seven teams are unchanged, and the first 11 teams are unanimous in the poll.
The (45-2) Marlins are the No. 1 team heading into the NCAA tournament for a second-straight season and have won 51 of their last 53 games. This is their 19th consecutive week as the unanimous choice atop the rankings. Virginia Wesleyan opens NCAA play on Friday against Gettysburg (24-14) in one of 14 four-team regionals that also features No. 11 Christopher Newport (35-8), the host school, and 2009 NCAA champion Messiah (27-16).
Like Virginia Wesleyan, No. 2 Texas Lutheran (37-1) was idle this past week, after wrapping up its fifth-straight Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference title two weeks ago. It takes a 30-game win streak into NCAA play later this week. Third-ranked Texas-Tyler (38-1), meanwhile, won its 31st-consecutive game Sunday against No. 15 East Texas Baptist to capture its third American Southwest Conference tournament crown in the last five seasons. Those teams comprise a three-team, all-Texas NCAA regional starting Friday.
Fourth-ranked Berry (36-4), which hasn’t played since wrapping up a fourth-straight Southern Athletic Association tournament title with a 10-1, five-inning triumph over Rhodes on April 21, starts its NCAA run Friday against Lynchburg (30-12) at Emory. No. 5 Randolph-Macon (38-5), off since being edged 6-5 in eight innings by Virginia Wesleyan in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament, travels to New Jersey to face Staten Island (23-10) in its NCAA regional opener, hosted at No. 14 Rowan.
St. John Fisher (30-7) and St. Thomas (35-6) both captured their conference tournaments to remain sixth and seventh this week, respectively, while Moravian (32-5) beat Scranton twice to claim the Landmark Conference crown and jump three places to No. 8, ahead of idle Northwest Conference champion Linfield (35-8) and runner-up George Fox (35-9) in the top 10.
Linfield hosts the other three-team NCAA regional, that includes rival George Fox and Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament titlist Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (31-12).
New to the rankings this week are No. 25 Wisconsin-Whitewater (25-11-1), which won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title, Ohio Athletic Conference champion Ohio Northern (30-9) and MAC Commonwealth winner Messiah.
Coe, Emory & Henry and Lake Forest dropped out.
The NFCA Division III Top 25 Poll is selected by eight NCAA Division III head coaches representing the eight NCAA regions. Current 2018 records are listed, with first-place votes in parentheses. This is the last poll until after the NCAA tournament concludes.
NFCA Division III Top 25 Poll – May 9, 2018
Rank
Team
2018 Record
Points
Previous
1
Virginia Wesleyan (8)
45-2
200
1
2
Texas Lutheran
37-1
192
2
3
Texas-Tyler
38-1
184
3
4
Berry
36-4
176
4
5
Randolph-Macon
38-5
168
5
6
St. John Fisher
30-7
160
6
7
St. Thomas (Minn.)
35-6
152
7
8
Moravian
32-5
144
11
9
Linfield
35-8
136
9
10
George Fox
35-9
128
12
11
Christopher Newport
35-8
120
8
12
Williams
35-6
100
22
13
Saint Benedict
34-8
87
13
14
Rowan
33-10-1
78
23
15
East Texas Baptist
33-11
76
14
16
Luther
35-8
75
RV
17
Hope
29-9
53
RV
18
Tufts
29-8
52
15
19
Saint Mary’s (Ind.)
35-5
50
10
20
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
33-7-1
49
18
21
Ithaca
28-9
40
24
22
College of New Jersey
31-8
39
19
23
Central (Iowa)
27-10
30
17
24
Illinois Wesleyan
31-10-1
22
RV
25
Wisconsin-Whitewater
25-11-1
19
NR
Others receiving votes: Calvin 17, Geneseo 15, Emory 13, Amherst 9, Ohio Northern 2, Lynchburg 1, and Messiah 1.
Dropped out: Coe, Emory & Henry and Lake Forest.