By Alan Grosbach, Manager of Communications and Sports Information

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Minimal movement occurred throughout the Top 25 this week, as Rocky Mountain (Mont.) received its ninth-straight No. 1 ranking in the Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. The Battlin’ Bears were the unanimous pick for the sixth-straight week with 21 first-place votes and 591 points.

The Battlin’ Bears clinched their first Frontier Conference regular-season title since 2000 with a 3-1 win at Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) on Oct. 30. Rocky Mountain ran its winning streak to 24 matches two days later with a 3-0 sweep of Montana Tech. The Battlin’ Bears travel to Carroll (Mont.) for their regular-season finale on Friday.

Park (Mo.) received 572 points en route to its third-straight No. 2 ranking – the highest position in program history. The Pirates (29-0) continued their tremendous run last week with victories against No. 22 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) (3-0) and William Woods (Mo.) (3-0). Park can claim the American Midwest Conference title outright with wins at Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.) on Friday and at Benedictine-Springfield (Ill.) on Saturday.

Rounding out the top five are No. 3 Concordia (Calif.) with 547 points, No. 4 Biola (Calif.) with 540 points and No. 5 Texas at Brownsville with 514 points. Biola enters the week with a 0.5-game lead over Concordia in the Golden State Athletic Conference standings. The Eagles are 12-1 in the league, while Concordia is 11-1.

Texas at Brownsville locked up the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) regular-season crown and the No. 1 seed in the RRAC tournament with a 3-0 win against Huston-Tillotson (Texas) on Nov. 1. The win gives the Ocelots a 74-0 conference record dating back to the 2009 season.

No. 10 Viterbo (Wis.) and No. 13 Eastern Oregon enjoyed the largest positive movement in the poll this week, climbing up two places from the Oct. 28 edition. Conversely, Midland (Neb.) fell the farthest, dropping four spots from No. 8 to No. 12.

No newcomers joined the Top 25 this week.

Fifteen of the 23 conferences are represented throughput the Top 25, led by the GSAC – Concordia, Biola and No. 21 Vanguard (Calif.) – and AMC – Park, No. 7 Missouri Baptist and No. 8 Columbia (Mo.) – with three teams each.

The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and Association of Independent Institutions. The 10th regular-season Top 25 will be announced Nov. 11.

For the complete volleyball ratings calendar, click here.

Notes: (All information as of 2000) Rocky Mountain (Mont.) becomes the first Frontier Conference member to earn nine-straight No. 1 rankings that includes the program’s sixth unanimous selection … Rocky Mountain appeared in only four polls during the 2013 season … Five Frontier Conference members have appeared in the Top 25 since 2000 … Rocky Mountain becomes the ninth team to hold the No. 1 ranking since 2000 … Former member Fresno Pacific (Calif.) has the most No. 1 appearances with 70, followed by former member National American (S.D.) with 33 … No. 3 Concordia (Calif.), which ranks fifth all-time with 14 No. 1 mentions, holds the longest active streak in the Top 25 at 108-straight polls … No. 4 Biola (Calif.) is second with 107-consecutive mentions followed by No. 8 Columbia (Mo.) (95) and No. 5 Texas at Brownsville (70) … Thirty-two teams have made a Top 25 appearance this season … Biola, Concordia, Northwestern (Iowa) and Texas at Brownsville have ranked among the top 10 in every edition … There has only been one program that has been able to maintain the No. 1 ranking for an entire season with Fresno Pacific accomplishing the feat in 2004, 2008 and 2009.

2014 Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 9 (Nov. 4)

RANK	LAST WEEK	SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES)	2014 Record	TOTAL POINTS
1	1	Rocky Mountain (Mont.) (21)	25-2	591
2	2	Park (Mo.)	29-0	572
3	3	Concordia (Calif.)	27-2	547
4	4	Biola (Calif.)	24-4	540
5	5	Texas at Brownsville	27-4	514
6	6	Northwestern (Iowa)	28-2	497
7	7	Missouri Baptist	30-2	478
8	8	Columbia (Mo.)	31-4	458
9	10	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	28-2	418
10	12	Viterbo (Wis.)	31-7	405
11	13	Eastern Oregon	24-3	404
12	8	Midland (Neb.)	21-7	377
13	11	Southern Oregon	20-4	355
14	14	Grand View (Iowa)	23-12	349
15	15	Davenport (Mich.)	28-7	342
16	17	Madonna (Mich.)	32-5	306
17	16	Georgetown (Ky.)	24-10	305
18	18	Jamestown (N.D.)	22-6	263
19	20	Indiana Wesleyan	29-7	238
20	19	Wayland Baptist (Texas)	19-9	233
21	21	Vanguard (Calif.)	19-11	183
22	22	MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.)	18-12	173
23	24	Cal State San Marcos	22-10	161
24	25	Coastal Georgia	27-1	150
25	23	Oklahoma Baptist	22-10	136

Others receiving votes: Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 96; Concordia (Ore.) 94; Evangel (Mo.) 75; Dordt (Iowa) 43; Bryan (Tenn.) 26; Trinity Christian (Ill.) 24; St. Thomas (Fla.) 23; Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 16; St. Catharine (Ky.) 12; The Master’s (Calif.) 10; Graceland (Iowa) 5; Concordia (Neb.) 4.