The women‟s volleyball team

[BTGmoderatorDC]

The women"Ÿs volleyball team at a local college finished fifth in its division, prompting the college to fire the team"Ÿs general manager. The manager responded by suing the college, saying that the team"Ÿs performance put it among the top teams in the country.

Which of the following statements, if true, would support the claim of the team"Ÿs manager, and resolve the apparent contradiction?

(A) The team won all of its "away" games during the season in question.
(B) Attendance at the volleyball team"Ÿs games was up 35% from the year before.
(C) Of the starting team, three team members were unable to play for at least half the season because of injuries.
(D) There are 80 teams in this particular volleyball team"Ÿs division.
(E) The team lost more games this year than it did the year before.

What is wrong with the other Options?

OA D

[MartyMurray]

What is wrong with the other Options?

To answer the question, we need an answer that supports the claim of the team's manager. The manager's claim is that the team's performance placed it among the top teams in the country. So, we need a choice that indicates that the team's performance did indeed do so.

(A) This choice tells us about the team's away games, but not about home games, and more importantly it does not give us a way to compare its performance or its standings with those of other teams in the country.

(B) The attendance at a team's games does not affect a team's standings. So, what this choice says does not affect the argument at all.

(C) We are not concerned with who played but rather with the outcome of the team's play. This choice does not tell us anything about games won or standings.

(E) We need a comparison between this team's performance and the performance of other teams. This choice does not provide information that we can use to make such a comparison. Rather it provides only information that can be used to compare the team's performance this year with the same team's performance the year before.

Meanwhile, the OA is not great, but I guess it works.

If the team finished fifth in its division and there are 80 teams in the division, then we could say that the team finished among the top teams in its division.

The manager's claim did not, however, use the expression "top of its division" but rather used the expression "top teams in the country". Does finishing at the top of the team's division mean that the team is among the top teams in the country? I guess we have to assume that it does, because other than D, there is no choice that comes close to answering the question. So, while this question could be better written, the OA is indeed the best answer.