By Alan Grosbach, Manager of Communications and Sports Information

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the second-consecutive week, minimal movement occurred throughout the poll, as Rocky Mountain (Mont.) received its 10th-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 seventh-straight week with 22 first-place votes and 622 points.

The final regular-season Coaches’ Top 25 Poll will be announced on Sunday, Nov. 16 at 5 p.m. CST, along with the 36-team field for the 2014 NAIA Volleyball National Championship, presented by J&L Enterprises. The 24-team National Championship Opening Round pairings will be announced Monday, Nov. 17 at 12 p.m. CST via a broadcast event on NAIANetwork.com. The top 11 seeds and championship host Briar Cliff (Iowa) receive a bye directly to the final site in Sioux City, Iowa. For conference tournament results, click here.

Rocky Mountain enters the Frontier Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed after clinching its first regular-season title since 2000 with a 3-1 win at Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) on Oct. 30. The Battlin’ Bears, who ride a 25-match winning streak into the event, will square off against eighth-seeded Montana Western at 12 p.m. MST on Friday.

No. 2 Park (Mo.) – the NAIA’s only unbeaten team at 31-0 – held steady for the fourth-straight week with 602 points. The Pirates clinched an undefeated regular-season, the American Midwest Conference (AMC) regular-season championship and an automatic berth into the 2014 NAIA Volleyball National Championship presented by J&L Enterprises and CNOS Foundation with a sweep of Benedictine-Springfield (Ill.) on Nov. 8. Park opens the AMC tournament Tuesday against Stephens.

Rounding out the top five again this week are No. 3 Concordia (Calif.) (577 points), No. 4 Biola (Calif.) (567 points) and No. 5 Texas at Brownsville (542 points).

Concordia and Biola play in the Golden State Athletic Conference, which does not conduct a conference tournament. Concordia has two matches remaining on its regular-season schedule – against Westmont (Calif.) on Tuesday and William Jessup (Calif.) on Thursday – while Biola wraps up the regular season on Saturday at The Master’s (Calif.).

Texas at Brownsville – the No. 1 seed and regular season champion in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) – hosts the winner of Bacone (Okla.) and St. Thomas (Texas) in the semifinals of the RRAC tournament on Friday at 7:30 p.m. CST.

Only six programs shifted positions from last edition, highlighted by a three-spot slide by MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) from No. 22 to No. 25. The drop was due in large part to a 3-1 loss at Culver-Stockton (Mo.) on Nov. 4. The Pioneers, who are the No. 1 seed in the Heart of America Athletic Conference tournament, downed Peru State (Neb.), 3-0, in the quarterfinals last Saturday to set up a rematch with Culver-Stockton on Wednesday.

No. 24 Concordia (Ore.) is the lone newcomer this week. The Cavaliers, who are ranked for the first time since Oct. 22, 2013, are the No. 3 seed in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) tournament and open play on Tuesday at 7 p.m. PST against Oregon Tech.

The AMC, GSAC and CCC are tied for the most programs represented in the poll 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.

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 10-straight No. 1 rankings that includes the program’s seventh 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 109-straight polls … No. 4 Biola (Calif.) is second with 108-consecutive mentions followed by No. 8 Columbia (Mo.) (96) and No. 5 Texas at Brownsville (71) … Thirty-three 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. 10 (Nov. 11)

RANK	LAST WEEK	SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES)	2014 Record	TOTAL POINTS
1	1	Rocky Mountain (Mont.) (22)	26-2	622
2	2	Park (Mo.)	31-0	602
3	3	Concordia (Calif.)	29-2	577
4	4	Biola (Calif.)	27-4	567
5	5	Texas at Brownsville	27-4	542
6	7	Missouri Baptist	32-2	518
7	6	Northwestern (Iowa)	29-3	495
8	8	Columbia (Mo.)	32-4	487
9	9	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	30-2	455
10	10	Viterbo (Wis.)	33-7	440
11	11	Eastern Oregon	26-3	421
12	12	Midland (Neb.)	23-7	393
13	13	Southern Oregon	22-4	369
14	T14	Grand View (Iowa)	25-12	366
15	T14	Davenport (Mich.)	31-7	355
16	16	Madonna (Mich.)	34-6	323
17	17	Georgetown (Ky.)	25-10	314
18	18	Jamestown (N.D.)	22-6	270
19	19	Indiana Wesleyan	29-7	259
20	20	Wayland Baptist (Texas)	21-9	247
21	21	Vanguard (Calif.)	21-11	204
22	23	Cal State San Marcos	23-10	191
23	24	Coastal Georgia	29-1	177
24	RV	Concordia (Ore.)	17-8	139
25	22	MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.)	19-13	131

Others receiving votes: Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 112; Oklahoma Baptist 107; Dordt (Iowa) 106; Evangel (Mo.) 36; Bryan (Tenn.) 30; St. Thomas (Fla.) 22; Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 15; St. Catharine (Ky.) 8; Concordia (Neb.) 8; Northwestern Ohio 5; Graceland (Iowa) 5; College of Idaho 3; Kansas Wesleyan 3; Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) 3.