KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Eastern Oregon University Volleyball team has ascended to the No. 2 spot in the latest NAIA Women's Volleyball Coaches Top 25 Rating, released Wednesday. The Mountaineers moved up one spot from their previous ranking of third in the preseason poll.
Eastern Oregon's perfect 8-0 start to the season, highlighted by key victories over No. 5 Viterbo and No. 15 Montana Western, earned the team 573 points and two first-place votes. They now trail only Northwestern (Iowa), which holds the top position with a 10-0 record and 590 points.
The rankings are determined by a panel of head coaches from each conference or the Continental Athletic Conference (Independents). Teams earn points based on their placement on each coach's ballot, with 30 points for a first-place vote, 29 for second, and so on. The highest and lowest ratings for each team are discarded, and an additional point is added for each ballot a team appears on, including discounted ratings. Teams receiving only one point on a ballot are not considered as having "received votes."
Joining the Mountaineers in the top ten are fellow Cascade Collegiate Conference members Southern Oregon (No. 5) and Corban (No. 9), demonstrating strong representation for the CCC.
The Mountaineers return to action this weekend for a conference matchup against Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls. The game is set to start at 6:00 p.m. on Friday.
| RANK |
LAST |
SCHOOL |
RECORD |
POINTS |
| 1 |
2 |
Northwestern (Iowa) [19] |
10-0 |
590 |
| 2 |
3 |
Eastern Oregon [2] |
8-0 |
573 |
| 3 |
4 |
Concordia (Neb.) |
7-1 |
530 |
| 4 |
9 |
Jamestown (N.D.) |
4-0 |
520 |
| 5 |
10 |
Southern Oregon |
7-0 |
513 |
| 6 |
13 |
Oklahoma Wesleyan |
11-1 |
501 |
| 7 |
1 |
Indiana Wesleyan |
7-2 |
487 |
| 8 |
14 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
7-2 |
469 |
| 9 |
12 |
Corban (Ore.) |
4-1 |
426 |
| 10 |
16 |
IU Kokomo (Ind.) |
8-4 |
398 |
| 11 |
19 |
St. Thomas (Fla.) |
12-0 |
393 |
| 12 |
RV |
Aquinas (Mich.) |
9-1 |
366 |
| 13 |
15 |
Montana Western |
8-2 |
328 |
| 14 |
8 |
Park (Mo.) |
4-2 |
296 |
| 15 |
23 |
Providence (Mont.) |
9-2 |
292 |
| 15 |
RV |
Morningside (Iowa) |
11-2 |
292 |
| 17 |
5 |
Viterbo (Wis.) |
5-6 |
279 |
| 18 |
7 |
Columbia (Mo.) |
4-5 |
244 |
| 19 |
18 |
Central Methodist (Mo.) |
3-0 |
221 |
| 20 |
6 |
Midland (Neb.) |
4-6 |
215 |
| 21 |
RV |
Grace (Ind.) |
6-1 |
204 |
| 22 |
20 |
Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) |
12-0 |
169 |
| 23 |
RV |
Columbia International (S.C.) |
10-1 |
128 |
| 24 |
RV |
Marian (Ind.) |
9-1 |
114 |
| 25 |
RV |
McPherson (Kan.) |
6-2 |
106 |
Dropped from the Top 25: Missouri Baptist, Valley City State (N.D.), College of Saint Mary (Neb.), Montana Tech, Ottawa (Kan.), Kansas Wesleyan
Receiving Votes: Missouri Baptist 103, College of Idaho 100, Valley City State (N.D.) 86, Cumberlands (Ky.) 83, Keiser (Fla.) 56, Benedictine (Kan.) 44, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 32, College of Saint Mary (Neb.) 32, Montana Tech 32, Ottawa (Kan.) 29, Dakota State (S.D.) 19, Nelson (Texas) 17, Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) 15, Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) 11, Carroll (Mont.) 11, Bethel (Kan.) 10, Hastings (Neb.) 9, Kansas Wesleyan 5, Blue Mountain Christian (Miss.) 5, Mobile (Ala.) 2, Oregon Tech 2
