Kansas City, Mo. - After making their fourth consecutive NAIA National Championship Tournament appearance, the Central Methodist volleyball program finishes at No. 19 in the NAIA Women's Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 Postseason poll.
Other Heart schools featured in the Top 25 include; No. 2 Park, and No. 22 Grand View.
The Eagles concluded the 2021 campaign with a 29-9 overall mark including a stellar 16-3 record in conference play. Central picked up notable victories over, at the time, No. 15 Westmont, No. 18 Ottawa, No. 19 Oklahoma City, No. 24 Grand View (RV) Texas Wesleyan, and (RV) Dakota Wesleyan.
CMU finished second in the Heart South Division standings and reached the Conference Tournament Championship game for the fourth consecutive season.
In addition, Central climbed to as high as No. 10 in the national rankings this fall, having now been ranked in 27 consecutive polls dating back to Sept. 14, 2018.
To view the poll methodology and the complete Top 25 Postseason Poll, please see below.
Poll Methodology
- The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences 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 on the ballot are not considered "receiving votes"
| RANK | LAST TIME | SCHOOL [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | RECORD | POINTS |
| 1 | 3 | Missouri Baptist [20] | 33-2 | 560 |
| 2 | 4 | Park (Mo.) | 34-3 | 542 |
| 3 | 1 | Jamestown (N.D.) | 35-1 | 522 |
| 4 | 7 | Marian (Ind.) | 35-3 | 508 |
| 5 | 5 | Providence (Mont.) | 28-3 | 474 |
| 6 | 19 | Concordia (Neb.) | 19-12 | 471 |
| 7 | 2 | Viterbo (Wis.) | 39-2 | 451 |
| 8 | 21 | Northwestern (Iowa) | 20-11 | 435 |
| 9 | 11 | Bellevue (Neb.) | 26-8 | 428 |
| 10 | 5 | College of Saint Mary (Neb.) | 27-6 | 385 |
| 11 | 8 | Corban (Ore.) | 30-3 | 384 |
| 12 | 9 | Midland (Neb.) | 25-6 | 355 |
| 13 | 10 | Life (Ga.) | 34-3 | 320 |
| 14 | 13 | Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) | 25-10 | 303 |
| 14 | 15 | Montana Tech | 23-10 | 303 |
| 16 | 12 | Eastern Oregon | 26-9 | 293 |
| 17 | 20 | Indiana Wesleyan | 24-6 | 290 |
| 18 | 22 | Dordt (Iowa) | 19-10 | 262 |
| 19 | 14 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 29-9 | 252 |
| 20 | 16 | Ottawa (Ariz.) | 26-4 | 202 |
| 21 | 25 | Oregon Tech | 24-8 | 197 |
| 22 | 18 | Grand View (Iowa) | 25-15 | 193 |
| 23 | RV | Texas Wesleyan | 25-8 | 184 |
| 24 | 23 | Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | 25-7 | 158 |
| 25 | 17 | Columbia (Mo.) | 30-9 | 117 |
Dropped from the Poll: Bethel (Ind.)
Receiving Votes: Bushnell (Ore.) 85, Bethel (Ind.) 60, SAGU (Texas) 54, Dakota State (S.D.) 45, Saint Xavier (Ill.) 44, Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 26, Ottawa (Kan.) 22, Bryan (Tenn.) 9, Xavier (La.) 5, IU South Bend (Ind.) 3, Taylor (Ind.) 3
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