2018 NAIA Men's Volleyball Coaches' Preseason Top 10 Poll ? Jan. 9
By Katie Green, Manager of Athletics Communications and Media
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Defending National Invitational Champions, Park (Mo.) claims the No. 1 rank in the of the NAIA Men’s Volleyball Coaches’ Preseason Top 10 Poll, the national office announced on Tuesday.
Top 10 Highlights:
-Park returns two top players from 2017 in Leandro Sodre and Victor Neves who helped the Pirates to the 2017 National Invitational Title. Despite losing two All-Americans from 2017, the Pirates will reload with a deep recruiting class.
-The Pirates finished the 2017 season with a record of 26-5, 10-2. The teams only losses came from Grand View (Iowa), Missouri Baptist and Ottawa (Kan.).
-Park received eight-of-10 first-place votes. Grand View (Iowa), the 2017 National Invitational runner-up, received the other two first-place votes.
-The Heart of America Conference and the unaffiliated group comprised of teams from the American Midwest/Great Plains/Kansas Collegiate Conference both had three teams in the Top 10.
- There were no new teams to join the poll from the 2017 postseason Top 10.
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 10 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.
-For the complete ratings calendar, click here.
2018 Men’s Volleyball Coaches’ Preseason Top 10 Poll – (Jan. 9)
| RANK | LAST WEEK | SCHOOL [FIRST PLACE VOTES] | RECORD | POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Park (Mo.) [8] | 26-5 | 105 |
| 2 | 2 | Grand View (Iowa) [2] | 25-4 | 99 |
| 3 | 3 | Missouri Baptist | 28-2 | 90 |
| 4 | 5 | Lourdes (Ohio) | 20-9 | 78 |
| 5 | 7 | Ottawa (Kan.) | 5-27 | 71 |
| 6 | 8 | Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) | 26-7 | 60 |
| 6 | 4 | Warner (Fla.) | 23-6 | 60 |
| 8 | 6 | Missouri Valley | 18-14 | 54 |
| 9 | 9 | Robert Morris (Ill.) | 27-6 | 46 |
| 10 | 10 | Clarke (Iowa) | 18-10 | 37 |
Dropped from the rankings: None
Others receiving votes: St. Ambrose (Iowa) 26, Siena Heights (Mich.) 13, Culver-Stockton (Mo.) 3
