by Alan Babbitt
The Hope College women's basketball team is atop the first D3hoops.com NCAA Division III poll of the season.
The Flying Dutch (4-0 overall) received eight of 15 possible first-place votes and finished with 121 points.
Wartburg College (Iowa) is second with one first-place vote and 118 points.
The remainder of the top five featured No. 3 East Texas Baptist University, No. 4 Whitman College (Washington), and No. 5 Trine University.
D3hoops ranked only the top 10 teams in the first poll because of the smaller number of teams playing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Only teams that have played a game were eligible to receive votes.
Hope ended the 2019-20 season No. 1 in the D3hoops.com and Women's Basketball Coaches Association final regular-season polls. The Flying Dutch were the only remaining unbeaten team when NCAA canceled the national tournament because of the pandemic.
The Flying Dutch are coming off a 74-58 win against Calvin University on Saturday at DeVos Fieldhouse that extended their win streak to 34 games dating back to last season.
Hope hosts Trine on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at DeVos Fieldhouse.
Photo by Kate Majerus by Alan Babbitt
