Final Regular Season NAIA Top 25 Released for Volleyball
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Concordia (Calif.) ends the season as the No. 1 ranked team in the final regular season edition of the Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 poll, the national office announced on Sunday. The Eagles received 21-of-23 first-place votes and earned 652 points for the top spot. This is the third-straight week for the Eagles to sit atop the poll.
The 2012 Volleyball National Championship qualifiers will be announced today at 4 CST. The opening round pairings for the Volleyball National Championship will be released at Noon CST on Monday, Nov. 12 on NAIA.org.
Concordia won the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) regular season championship by defeating No. 4 Biola (Calif.), 3-2, (25-21, 25-10, 23-25, 22-25, 15-8) on Nov. 10, with the win, the Eagles extended its NAIA-best winning streak to 30 matches.
Texas at Brownsville collected the last two first-place votes and tallied 633 points for the No. 2 ranking. The Scorpions claimed the Red River Athletic Conference tournament by defeating Texas Wesleyan, 3-0, (25-15, 25-20, 25-19) and St. Thomas-Houston (Texas), 3-0, (25-12, 25-16, 25-18). American Midwest Conference (AMWC) Tournament champion, Columbia (Mo.) comes in at No. 3 notching 611 points. Remaining at No. 4 is Biola receiving 590 points, while No. 5 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) rounds out the top five with 561 points.
Three teams, No. 12 Indiana East, No. 16 Doane (Neb.) and No. 21 Viterbo (Wis.) all made the biggest jump this week, moving up two spots. They all won their conference tournaments this past weekend.
Rejoining the Top 25, after missing the last two weeks, is No. 24 Park (Mo.). Park defeated then-No. 13 Missouri Baptist in the AMWC semifinals, 3-0, (25-19, 25-12, 25-19) on Nov. 8. Two day later, the Pirates were defeated by No. 3 Columbia, 3-0, (25-21, 25-15, 25-22) in the championship.
Point Park (Pa.) (No. 24) fell out of the Top 25.
Sixteen conferences/independents/unaffiliated groups are represented throughout the Top 25, led by the GSAC with five ranked teams. Representing the GSAC is Concordia, Biola, No. 6 The Master's (Calif.), No. 11 Westmont (Calif.) and No. 22 Vanguard (Calif.).
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and Independents.
Notes: (All information as of 2000) Concordia (Calif.) makes its sixth all-time appearance at No. 1... Texas at Brownsville's 18 No. 1 rankings are the fourth-most all-time ... Former member Fresno Pacific (Calif.) has the most No. 1 appearances with 70, followed by former member National American (S.D.) with 32 and Columbia (Mo.) with 20... Concordia has the longest active streak in the Top 25 as it has been ranked for 84-straight polls; right behind Concordia is Biola (Calif.) with 83-straight polls... There has only been one program that has been able to maintain the No. 1 ranking for an entire season with Fresno Pacific accomplishing the feat in 2004, 2008 and 2009... No. 12 is the highest Indiana East has been ranked all-time...13 teams have been ranked all season... Park (Mo.) rejoins the Top 25 after missing the previous two weeks.
2012 Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 Poll - Final
RANK |
LAST TIME |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
1 |
1 |
Concordia (Calif.) (21) |
30-0 |
652 |
2 |
2 |
Texas at Brownsville (2) |
26-1 |
633 |
3 |
3 |
Columbia (Mo.) |
37-1 |
611 |
4 |
4 |
Biola (Calif.) |
26-4 |
590 |
5 |
6 |
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) |
28-4 |
561 |
6 |
7 |
The Master’s (Calif.) |
26-5 |
538 |
7 |
8 |
Indiana Wesleyan |
35-2 |
531 |
8 |
5 |
Hastings (Neb.) |
25-4 |
513 |
9 |
9 |
Lee (Tenn.) |
28-9 |
489 |
10 |
10 |
Oklahoma Baptist |
32-4 |
468 |
11 |
12 |
Westmont (Calif.) |
24-8 |
439 |
12 |
14 |
Indiana East |
43-3 |
414 |
13 |
11 |
Georgetown (Ky.) |
33-4 |
396 |
14 |
15 |
College of Idaho |
21-6 |
380 |
15 |
16 |
Madonna (Mich.) |
33-7 |
351 |
16 |
18 |
Doane (Neb.) |
28-8 |
335 |
17 |
13 |
Missouri Baptist |
33-3 |
290 |
18 |
19 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
24-4 |
281 |
19 |
17 |
Grand View (Iowa) |
29-10 |
271 |
20 |
19 |
Cal State San Marcos |
28-13 |
265 |
21 |
23 |
Viterbo (Wis.) |
32-7 |
231 |
22 |
21 |
Vanguard (Calif.) |
17-14 |
214 |
23 |
22 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
34-9 |
190 |
24 |
RV |
Park (Mo.) |
27-11 |
179 |
25 |
25 |
Midland (Neb.) |
21-11 |
168 |
Others receiving votes: Point Park (Pa.) 148; Ottawa (Kan.) 83; Davenport (Mich.) 46; Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 41; Eastern Oregon 41; Carroll (Mont.) 37; Jamestown (N.D.) 17; Spring Hill (Ala.) 12; Lubbock Christian (Texas) 11; St. Francis (Ill.) 7; Southern Oregon 5.