The Wayland Baptist volleyball team has broken into the Tachikara-NAIA Coaches' Top 25 poll for the first time in almost three years. After an impressive 8-2 start to the 2013 season, the Pioneers are ranked 24th in the first regular-season poll of the year.
Wayland received 38 votes and was ranked the equivalent of No. 33 in the preseason poll. The Pioneers won their first six matches before splitting four outings at the Menlo College Tournament last weekend in California. WBU defeated then No. 20 Cal State-San Marcos, which fell out of the poll (26
th), and Menlo, which is the equivalent of 31
st this week, while losing to then No. 9 The Master's College, which slipped to 22
nd, and Vanguard, which entered the poll at No. 19.
Wayland was last ranked on Oct. 19, 2010, at No. 23.
Oklahoma Baptist (9-3) slipped from fifth to 10th in the poll, having lost to No. 8 MidAmerica Nazarene, No. 11 Madonna and No. 23 Northwestern College while defeeating No. 10 Embry-Riddle, No. 21 Eastern Oregon and Doane, which received preseason votes.
The Pioneers next play in the LaQuinta Kansas Wesleyan Invitational in Salina, Kan., taking on Tabor College at 2 p.m. and York College at 6 p.m. Friday followed by College of the Ozarks at 8:30 a.m. and Kansas Wesleyan at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Tabor received votes in this week's Top 25 poll, the equivalent of No. 32. College of the Ozarks and Kansas Wesleyan did not receive votes after being mentioned in the preseason poll.
Riding a 45-match win streak, Concordia (Calif.) is ranked No. 1 for the sixth-straight. The defending national champions recorded 22 of 23 first-place votes. Second-ranked Texas at Brownsville hopped up one position thanks to a 8-0 record and four Top-25 victories, including over previous No. 2 Columbia (Mo.).
UT-Brownsville, which garnered the remaining first-place nod, now has been in the top three for 27-straight polls.
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and independents. The second regular-season Top 25 will be announced Sept. 17.
Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 (Sept. 10)
|
RANK |
LAST WEEK^ |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
2013 RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
|
1 |
1 |
Concordia (Calif.) (22) |
7-0 |
653 |
|
2 |
3 |
Texas at Brownsville (1) |
8-0 |
631 |
|
3 |
2 |
Columbia (Mo.) |
4-1 |
602 |
|
4 |
4 |
Biola (Calif.) |
7-0 |
598 |
|
5 |
8 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
8-0 |
566 |
|
6 |
11 |
Madonna (Mich.) |
13-0 |
544 |
|
7 |
7 |
Georgetown (Ky.) |
9-1 |
527 |
|
8 |
13 |
Midland (Neb.) |
13-0 |
499 |
|
9 |
16 |
Westmont (Calif.) |
11-0 |
467 |
|
10 |
5 |
Oklahoma Baptist |
9-3 |
445 |
|
11 |
14 |
Park (Mo.) |
8-1 |
431 |
|
12 |
23 |
Northwestern (Iowa) |
12-1 |
414 |
|
13 |
15 |
Viterbo (Wis.) |
11-2 |
383 |
|
14 |
10 |
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) |
5-4 |
371 |
|
15 |
19 |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
10-0 |
358 |
|
16 |
21 |
Eastern Oregon |
10-2 |
356 |
|
17 |
12 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
8-3 |
305 |
|
18 |
T17 |
Missouri Baptist |
8-1 |
285 |
|
19 |
RV |
Vanguard (Calif.) |
9-2 |
253 |
|
20 |
T17 |
Indiana Wesleyan |
8-3 |
225 |
|
21 |
RV |
Dordt (Iowa) |
8-2 |
177 |
|
22 |
9 |
The Master's (Calif.) |
10-2 |
157 |
|
23 |
NR |
Concordia (Ore.) |
7-2 |
151 |
|
24 |
RV |
Wayland Baptist (Texas) |
8-2 |
145 |
|
25 |
NR |
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
8-2 |
123 |
Others receiving votes: Cal State San Marcos 119; Hastings (Neb.) 80; Davenport (Mich.) 78; Spring Hill (Ala.) 73; College of Idaho 63; Menlo (Calif.) 61; Tabor (Kan.) 59; Grand View (Iowa) 57; Jamestown (N.D.) 37; Bryan (Tenn.) 33; Baker (Kan.) 30; St. Francis (Ill.) 18; Montana State-Northern 11; Point Park (Pa.) 8; Bethel (Ind.) 6; Evangel (Mo.) 5.
^ Ranking in 2013 Preseason Top 25 Poll (Aug. 20)
