Trio of Conference Schools Land in Volleyball Poll
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Cascade Collegiate Conference was represented by The College of Idaho, Eastern Oregon, and Southern Oregon in the first volleyball poll of the regular season Tuesday.
The College of Idaho was ranked No. 13, Eastern Oregon was No. 19, and Southern received seven votes. EOU cracked the top 20 and received the program’s highest NAIA ranking.
Opening the season on a four game-winning streak, Texas at Brownsville remains the top ranked team in the First edition of the Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 poll. The Scorpions captured 19 of the 22 first-place votes and tallied 620 points to earn the No. 1 ranking.
Receiving the last three first-place votes was Concordia (Calif.) as the Eagles remain at No. 2. Collecting 577 points, Columbia (Mo.) stays at No. 3. Moving up from No. 5 in the preseason poll to No. 4 is Biola (Calif.), who is off to an 11-1 start this season. Embry-Riddle rounds out the top five with 534 points.
Seven teams that were not ranked in the preseason poll, No. 11 Doane (Neb.), No. 12 Oklahoma Baptist, No. 13 College of Idaho, No. 16 The Master's (Calif.), No. 19 Eastern Oregon, No. 22 Midland (Neb.), and No. 24 Lubbock Christian (Texas), all made the jump into the Top 25 week one poll. Making the biggest splash was Doane as it moved to No. 11 after not being in the preseason Top 25.
Rough starts by Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) and Rocky Mountain (Mont.) have taken the preseason top 10 rated schools out of the Top 25.
Sixteen conferences/independents/unaffiliated groups are represented throughout the Top 25, led by the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) with four ranked teams. Representing the GSAC are Concordia, Biola, No. 9 Westmont (Calif.) and The Master's.
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and Independents. The second regular-season poll will be announced on Sept. 11.