The Wayland Baptist Pioneers rose to new heights in the 2013 Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 poll this week, coming in at No. 15. That's a two-place rise from the No. 17 ranking the Pioneers held the past two polls.
The Pioneers (27-5, 12-2 Sooner Athletic Conference), after winning their final two home matches over Texas Wesleyan and Southwestern Assemblies of God last weekend, wrap up the regular-season on the road at 7 p.m. Friday in Siloam Springs, Ark., against John Brown University and at 1 p.m. Saturday in Shawnee, Okla., against St. Gregory's University.
Wayland already has locked up the No. 2 seed in the six-team SAC Tournament, to be hosted by seventh-ranked Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee on Nov. 15 and 16. The Pioneers, who have a first-round bye along with OBU, will face the winner of a match between the No. 3 and 6 seeds on that Friday. The championship is Saturday with the winner automatically qualifying for the NAIA National Tournament.
Following opening-round national tourney matches at host schools, 24 teams advance to Sioux City, Iowa, Dec. 3-7 for the completion of the tournament.
Besides Wayland and OBU, the other teams who have qualified for the SAC Tournament are Oklahoma City (18-12, 9-6), Texas Wesleyan (17-17, 9-6), John Brown (15-17, 9-6) and SAGU (15-14, 8-7). Those teams' seeds have yet to be finalized.
WBU was the equivalent of No. 33 in the preseason NAIA Top 25 before moving to No. 24 in the first regular-season poll. The Pioneers made one-spot jumps all the way to No. 20, jumped two spots to No. 18, then moved to No. 17 two weeks ago.
For the third straight week, Texas at Brownsville holds the No.1 position in Top 25 poll. The Ocelots (29-0) have swept 25 of 29 opponents and only dropped five sets overall (out of 92 total sets).
The rest of the top-nine ranked teams held from last week.
Thirteen of 23 conferences are represented throughout the Top 25, led by the Golden State Athletic Conference with five ranked teams, No. 2 Concordia (Calif.), No. 3 Biola (Calif.), No. 10 Vanguard (Calif.), No. 11 The Master's (Calif.) and No. 14 Westmont (Calif.). The Great Plains Athletic Conference and Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference each land three programs in the poll.
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and independents. The 10th regular-season Top 25 will be announced Nov. 12.
Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 Poll (Nov. 5)
|
RANK |
LAST WEEK |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
2013 RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
|
1 |
1 |
Texas at Brownsville (23) |
29-0 |
653 |
|
2 |
2 |
Concordia (Calif.) |
20-1 |
632 |
|
3 |
3 |
Biola (Calif.) |
19-2 |
611 |
|
4 |
4 |
Madonna (Mich.) |
34-0 |
590 |
|
5 |
5 |
Northwestern (Iowa) |
31-1 |
569 |
|
6 |
6 |
Midland (Neb.) |
30-3 |
544 |
|
7 |
7 |
Oklahoma Baptist |
29-5 |
514 |
|
8 |
8 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
22-2 |
507 |
|
9 |
9 |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
31-2 |
496 |
|
10 |
12 |
Vanguard (Calif.) |
18-6 |
445 |
|
11 |
11 |
The Master's (Calif.) |
17-6 |
423 |
|
12 |
13 |
Park (Mo.) |
30-4 |
417 |
|
13 |
15 |
Columbia (Mo.) |
23-9 |
407 |
|
14 |
14 |
Westmont (Calif.) |
19-6 |
362 |
|
15 |
17 |
Wayland Baptist (Texas) |
27-5 |
335 |
|
16 |
18 |
Dordt (Iowa) |
21-5 |
332 |
|
17 |
20 |
Georgetown (Ky.) |
27-9 |
314 |
|
18 |
16 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
30-8 |
300 |
|
19 |
19 |
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) |
16-9 |
288 |
|
20 |
21 |
Cornerstone (Mich.) |
25-9 |
251 |
|
21 |
22 |
Davenport (Mich.) |
30-9 |
227 |
|
22 |
23 |
Grand View (Iowa) |
26-13 |
201 |
|
23 |
RV |
College of Idaho |
14-9 |
196 |
|
24 |
10 |
Eastern Oregon |
23-5 |
144 |
|
25 |
24 |
Montana State-Northern |
22-5 |
134 |
Others receiving votes: Missouri Baptist 108; Spring Hill (Ala.) 85; Viterbo (Wis.) 74; Hastings (Neb.) 72; Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 55; Cal State San Marcos 29; Evangel (Mo.) 29; Trinity Christian (Ill.) 19; Bryan (Tenn.) 13; Concordia (Ore.) 11; Campbellsville (Ky.) 9; Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 3; Kansas Wesleyan 3.
