Kansas City, Mo. - After finishing the fall season with an 11-3 overall mark, the Central Methodist volleyball team came in ranked No. 11 in the first edition of the NAIA Women's Volleyball Coaches' Top-25 Poll, announced by the national office Tuesday afternoon.
Other Heart programs featured in the Top-25 include; No. 1 Park, No. 7 Grand View, (RV) MidAmerica Nazarene, and (RV) Evangel. The Eagles, who finished conference play with a 9-3 mark, led the Heart with four First Team All-Conference selections and Conference Co-Freshman of the Year, Annabelle Maassen, who earned Second Team honors.
Highlighting Central's fall schedule included a 6-1 start through their first seven games, of which all six wins were in straight sets. CMU finished the fall with a four game winning streak and were just edged by No. 1 Park in five sets on Oct. 30 in Puckett Fieldhouse.
CMU concluded the fall season ranked in the top 20 nationally in four different statistical categories including No. 13 in both assists/game (12.660), and blocks/game (2.470), No. 15 in kills/game (13.770) and No. 16 in hitting percentage (0.241).
Central is currently set to host Ottawa University on Monday, Feb. 22 at 4:00 p.m. in Puckett Fieldhouse. Postseason play for the Eagles will begin on Tuesday, March 2 when they host William Penn University in the quarterfinals of the Heart Conference Tournament inside Puckett Fieldhouse.
To view the poll methodology and the full Top-25, please see below.
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 25 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 rating) 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 appear on.
- Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered "receiving votes"
| RANK | LAST TIME | TEAM [FIRST PLACE VOTES] | RECORD | POINTS |
| 1 | 4 | Jamestown (N.D.) [6] | 18-1 | 571 |
| 1 | 5 | Park (Mo.) [9] | 14-0 | 571 |
| 3 | 7 | Indiana Wesleyan [3] | 15-1 | 549 |
| 4 | 2 | Westmont (Calif.) [3] | 3-0 | 529 |
| 5 | 8 | Missouri Baptist | 10-1 | 510 |
| 6 | 1 | Marian (Ind.) | 12-3 | 502 |
| 7 | 12 | Grand View (Iowa) | 14-0 | 481 |
| 8 | 6 | Northwestern (Iowa) | 15-3 | 474 |
| 9 | 13 | Eastern Oregon | 31-5 | 448 |
| 10 | 14 | Concordia (Neb.) | 12-3 | 400 |
| 11 | 10 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 11-3 | 394 |
| 12 | 19 | Bellevue (Neb.) | 4-1 | 345 |
| 13 | 15 | Corban (Ore.) | 22-10 | 342 |
| 14 | RV | Dordt (Iowa) | 12-5 | 331 |
| 15 | 11 | Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | 2-0 | 320 |
| 16 | 16 | Oklahoma City | 0-0 | 316 |
| 17 | NR | Bethel (Ind.) | 20-4 | 294 |
| 18 | NR | Rocky Mountain (Mont.) | 2-0 | 243 |
| 19 | RV | Madonna (Mich.) | 2-0 | 207 |
| 20 | RV | Midland (Neb.) | 10-8 | 202 |
| 21 | RV | IU Kokomo (Ind.) | 18-0 | 198 |
| 22 | NR | Keiser (Fla.) | 23-0 | 169 |
| 23 | 25 | Reinhardt (Ga.) | 16-1 | 167 |
| 24 | 20 | Providence (Mont.) | 1-1 | 165 |
| 25 | 18 | Columbia (Mo.) | 8-2 | 146 |
Receiving Votes: Aquinas (Mich.) 111, Vanguard (Calif.) 75, College of Idaho 71, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 71, Mayville State (N.D.) 64, McPherson (Kan.) 54, Texas Wesleyan 37, Ottawa (Kan.) 22, Saint Francis (Ind.) 21, Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) 14, Carroll (Mont.) 10, Trinity Christian (Ill.) 10, Indiana Tech 9, Bushnell (Ore.) 5, Evangel (Mo.) 4, IU East (Ind.) 3
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