Thanks to a strong season last year, a solid group of returners, and a very impressive recruiting class, the Lewis-Clark State College volleyball team was ranked No. 8 in the Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches' Preseason Top 25 poll, released by the national office on Tuesday.
LCSC captured its fifth straight Frontier Conference regular season title last season and finished the year at 23-6 overall with a 13-1 mark in league play. The team also made its fifth consecutive appearance at the national tournament and finished tied for ninth.
The Warriors, who were ranked No. 10 in last year’s postseason poll, drew 483 points in the poll. They stand 20 points behind conference rival Rocky Mountain which was ranked No. 7.
Carroll was the third Frontier member listed in the poll. The Saints, who were picked to finish third behind LCSC (first) and Rocky (second) in the conference coaches’ poll last week, garnered 181 points to come in at No. 21. Great Falls also received votes, but did not crack the top 25.
Texas at Brownsville, last year’s national champion, drew 20 of the 22 first-place votes to grab the top spot. National runner-up Concordia (Calif.) claimed the two other first-place votes and was ranked second. Lee (Tenn.) and Columbia (Mo.) tied for third, Biola (Calif.) was fifth, and Embry-Riddle (Fla.) was sixth.
Lewis-Clark State, which added six new players to join 10 returners from last year’s squad, will open its season on the road this weekend at a tournament in Caldwell, Idaho. They’ll face Eastern Oregon and William Jessup on Friday, and then tournament host College of Idaho and No. 10-ranked Vanguard on Saturday.
Links to live stats and video coverage from Caldwell are available at: www.lcsc.edu/athletics/wvb/2012/schedule
Next week the Warriors will travel to La Mirada, Calif., and participate in the Biola Holiday Inn Summer Slam. During this tournament they’ll face four different teams including No. 5 Biola, No. 23 Cal State San Marcos, and No. 24 Westmont.
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and Independents. The first regular-season poll will be announced on Sept. 4.
2012 Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – Preseason
|
RANK
|
LAST Time^
|
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES)
|
2011 RECORD
|
TOTAL POINTS
|
|
1
|
1
|
Texas at Brownsville (20)
|
32-2
|
621
|
|
2
|
2
|
Concordia (Calif.) (2)
|
38-2
|
603
|
|
3
|
3
|
Lee (Tenn.)
|
34-3
|
569
|
|
3
|
4
|
Columbia (Mo.)
|
38-4
|
569
|
|
5
|
5
|
Biola (Calif.)
|
27-13
|
545
|
|
6
|
6
|
Embry-Riddle (Fla.)
|
30-6
|
526
|
|
7
|
9
|
Rocky Mountain (Mont.)
|
30-5
|
503
|
|
8
|
10
|
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)
|
23-6
|
483
|
|
9
|
13
|
Indiana Wesleyan
|
36-6
|
457
|
|
10
|
14
|
Vanguard (Calif.)
|
23-14
|
439
|
|
11
|
15
|
Taylor (Ind.)
|
31-9
|
417
|
|
12
|
17
|
Spring Hill (Ala.)
|
40-3
|
386
|
|
13
|
19
|
Grand View (Iowa)
|
39-10
|
369
|
|
14
|
22
|
Missouri Baptist
|
36-7
|
362
|
|
15
|
20
|
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.)
|
30-9
|
310
|
|
16
|
RV
|
Madonna (Mich.)
|
30-10
|
306
|
|
17
|
24
|
Kansas Wesleyan
|
27-11
|
292
|
|
18
|
21
|
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)
|
28-11
|
290
|
|
19
|
25
|
Bellevue (Neb.)
|
29-7
|
257
|
|
20
|
RV
|
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)
|
31-3
|
215
|
|
21
|
RV
|
Carroll (Mont.)
|
18-8
|
181
|
|
22
|
RV
|
Cornerstone (Mich.)
|
31-5
|
161
|
|
23
|
RV
|
Cal State San Marcos
|
29-8
|
140
|
|
24
|
RV
|
Westmont (Calif.)
|
10-16
|
128
|
|
25
|
RV
|
Indiana East
|
37-9
|
123
|
|
|
Others receiving votes: Park (Mo.) 93; Indiana Tech 89; College of the Ozarks (Mo.) 89; Georgetown (Ky.) 87; Baker (Kan.) 59; Viterbo (Wis.) 59; Point Park (Pa.) 57; Campbellsville (Ky.) 26; Grace (Ind.) 22; Robert Morris (Ill.) 13; Great Falls (Mont.) 12; The Master’s (Calif.) 9; Evangel (Mo.) 8; Tabor (Kan.) 6; Asbury (Ky.) 5; La Sierra (Calif.) 5; Davenport (Mich.) 4.
^ 2011 Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches’ Postseason Top 25 Poll
^ 2011 Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches’ Postseason Top 25 Poll
