2016 Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches' Preseason Top 25 Poll
EOU No. 8, Ci, No. 11, SOU No. 18, NU RV
By Nikki Sherrill, Communications and Sports Information Intern
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Columbia (Mo.) finds itself back in the top spot after their 2015 national championship in the Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. The Cougars earned the top spot after receiving 21 first place votes and 591 total points in the first poll of the new season.
Top 25 Highlights:
- Last season, Columbia swept higher seeded Missouri Baptist 3-0 to win the national championship. This was the Cougars’ fourth national title in program history and head coach Melinda Wrye-Washington’s second with Columbia. The Cougars ended their national title run with an all-around game, hitting .308 and getting 44 kills. Columbia ended their season with an overall record of 33-7.
- For the 2016 season, the Cougars will return a strong team headlined by 2015 Tachikara-NAIA National Player of the Year in Penny Liu, a junior outside hitter who ranked 11th in the national championship with 75 kills. Last year’s team ranked No. 1 in the NAIA in hitting percentage at 0.293. The Cougars were able to win 22 games by sweeping their opponents last year.
- National runner up Missouri Baptist came in at No. 2 in preseason after their appearance in the national championship game. The Spartans earned 568 total points in the first poll of the season. While Missouri Baptist lost three All-Americans to graduation, they look to bring in a strong freshman class to help the returners. Last year, the Spartans ranked No. 1 in two categories in the NAIA; total assists with 2,044 and total kills with 2,209. They ended their 2015 season with a 39-5 overall record.
- Finishing out the top five are No. 3 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.), No. 4 Viterbo (Wis.) and No. 5 Hastings (Neb.). All three of these teams advanced out of pool play in last year’s national championship.
- There are two newcomers to the national poll as No. 23 Indiana Wesleyan out of the Crossroads League and No. 25 Jamestown from the North Star Athletic Conference find themselves ranking within the top 25. Indiana Wesleyan was ranked 10 times last season and tied for 16th at one point in the season. For Jamestown, they were ranked in last year’s preseason poll at No. 24.
- Overall, 11 of the 21 conferences are represented throughout the Top 25. The Great Plains Athletic Conference leads the way with five schools receiving rankings in the Top 25.
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and the Association of Independent Institutions. The first regular-season Top 25 will be announced on Sept. 6.
For the complete ratings calendar, click
here.
Notes: (All information as of 2000)
- Defending national champion Columbia (Mo.) takes the No. 1 spot for the fourth time in program history
- Columbia now becomes the 11th different team to hold a No. 1 ranking since 2000
- Former member Fresno Pacific (Calif.) has the most No. 1 appearances with 70, followed by former member National American (S.D.) with 33
- No. 2 Biola (Calif.), which has been ranked among the top 10 in 41-consecutive polls, holds thelongest active streak in the Top 25 at 113-straight
- No. 10 Columbia (Mo.) is next with 101-consecutive mentions
- Thirty-six different teams made a Top 25 appearance in 2015
- Biola (Calif.), Lindsey Wilson (Ky.), Missouri Baptist, Vanguard (Calif.) and Viterbo (Wis.) ranked among the top 10 in every edition last season
- 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.
Poll Methodology
- The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences, Association of Independent Institutions and Unaffiliated Groups.
- The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place and so on through the list.
- The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low ratings) is removed and the team’s ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appears on.
- Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”
- Frequency of polls occur bi-weekly. This policy was approved by the National Administrative Council (NAC) for the 2016-17 academic season. This change will allow raters the opportunity to consider a larger body of work in between rating periods.
2016 Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 Poll (Aug. 16)
| RANK |
LAST WEEK^ |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
2015 Record |
TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 |
1 |
Columbia (Mo.) (21) |
33-7 |
591 |
| 2 |
2 |
Missouri Baptist |
39-6 |
568 |
| 3 |
3 |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
37-4 |
555 |
| 4 |
4 |
Viterbo (Wis.) |
40-5 |
535 |
| 5 |
9 |
Hastings (Neb.) |
25-10 |
505 |
| 6 |
6 |
Midland (Neb.) |
33-4 |
470 |
| 7 |
8 |
Georgetown (Ky.) |
32-8 |
463 |
| 8 |
17 |
Eastern Oregon |
25-5 |
450 |
| 9 |
7 |
Vanguard (Calif.) |
25-7 |
444 |
| 10 |
10 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
28-11 |
385 |
| 11 |
11 |
College of Idaho |
24-12 |
365 |
| 12 |
19 |
Park (Mo.) |
24-11 |
362 |
| 13 |
15 |
Dordt (Iowa) |
25-7 |
350 |
| 14 |
18 |
Lourdes (Ohio) |
33-2 |
348 |
| 15 |
14 |
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
27-9 |
336 |
| 16 |
21 |
Westmont (Calif.) |
20-7 |
330 |
| 17 |
12 |
Madonna (Mich.) |
36-8 |
310 |
| 18 |
13 |
Southern Oregon |
26-6 |
251 |
| 19 |
5 |
Biola (Calif.) |
30-4 |
222 |
| T20 |
16 |
Evangel (Mo.) |
39-7 |
221 |
| T20 |
22 |
Concordia (Neb.) |
26-9 |
221 |
| 22 |
23 |
Ottawa (Kan.) |
35-6 |
172 |
| 23 |
NR |
Indiana Wesleyan |
36-9 |
153 |
| 24 |
25 |
Northwestern (Iowa) |
24-8 |
116 |
| 25 |
NR |
Jamestown (N.D.) |
20-11 |
107 |
Others receiving votes: Coastal Georgia 105; Grand View (Iowa) 74; Oklahoma City 67; Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 64; Bellevue (Neb.) 58; Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 55; Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) 54;
Northwest (Wash.) 36; Wayland Baptist (Texas) 19; Cumberlands (Ky.) 13; The Master's (Calif.) 12; Mobile (Ala.) 10; Warner (Fla.) 9; Kansas Wesleyan 6
^ Based off 2015 Postseason Coaches’ Poll (Dec. 9, 2015)