The first NCAA regional rankings were released this week, and the Muhlenberg soccer and field hockey teams all show up.

Unlike the coaches polls, which have been conducted all season, the NCAA rankings come from the same committees that select the teams for the NCAA Championships. Both polls are similar, at least as far is Muhlenberg is concerned.

The men’s soccer team is sixth in the Mid-Atlantic, as it is in the NSCAA poll. In the NCAA poll, the Mules are ahead of Carnegie Mellon but behind Messiah.

Women’s soccer also is sixth, as compared to eighth in the coaches rankings. The NCAA has Muhlenberg ahead of Lebanon Valley and Montclair State.

Field hockey is seventh in the South Region, behind the same regional teams it trails in the NFHCA/STX poll, plus Virginia Wesleyan.

In what is becoming an all-too-familiar plot line this fall, the Muhlenberg volleyball suffered its sixth straight loss, falling in five games to Baptist Bible.

The Mules (7-16) held a 2-1 lead after capturing the second and third games, but the Defenders (19-8), who are ranked third in National Christian College Athletic Association Division II, won the fourth game, 30-24, and the fifth, 15-9.

It was the fifth five-game loss for Muhlenberg this season, and the third in the last five matches.

The Mules scored the first point of the decisive game on a kill by sophomore Julie Lauro, but Baptist Bible took control by scoring the next four points. Muhlenberg closed to within 8-6 on Mary Henning’s service ace, only to have the Defenders reel off five straight points to take a commanding 13-6 lead.

Lauro had her fourth 20-20 match of the season, with 26 kills and 22 digs. She moved into fourth place on the Mules’s all-time list with 810 career kills. Sophomore Jen Weist also recorded 22 digs.

Henning finished with 32 assists.

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