Kansas City, Mo. - The Central Methodist Volleyball team is tabbed No. 14 in the preseason edition of the NAIA Women's Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 poll, which was announced by the national office Wednesday.
Other Heart Programs featured in the Top 25 include; No. 6 Park and No. 21 Grand View. Evangel is also receiving votes.
Central Methodist jumped five spots after finishing at No. 19 in 2021. During the Eagles' previous season they concluded the year with a 29-9 overall mark including a stellar 16-3 record in conference play. Central also made their fourth consecutive NAIA National Championship Tournament appearance.
Central will return NAIA Third Team All-American Callie Henson to its roster. The native of Jefferson City, Mo. was named to the NAIA National Championship All-Tournament team, and was also recognized as a Heart All-Conference First-Team performer, and an AVCA All-Midwest Region selection. Henson appeared in 37 matches and 133 sets, leading the team and ranking fourth in the conference in kills (409). In addition, she finished the season with 85 blocks and a .305 hitting percentage.
CMU will also return Krystal Brauner a First team All-Conference selection, in addition to Annabelle Maassen and Delaney Miller, both Second team All-Conference honorees.
Central Volleyball will preview the 2022 campaign as part of Heart Media Day on Friday, August 19. Fans may tune into the media day on the Heart Youtube page
The Eagles' will open the 2022 season at the Hampton Inn Classic beginning Friday, August 26 in Columbia Mo.
To view the poll methodology and the complete Top 25 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 | WEEK | SCHOOL [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | RECORD | POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Missouri Baptist [18] | 33-2 | 529 |
| 2 | 3 | Jamestown (N.D.) [1] | 35-1 | 506 |
| 3 | 9 | Bellevue (Neb.) | 26-8 | 465 |
| 4 | 4 | Marian (Ind.) | 35-3 | 463 |
| 5 | 12 | Midland (Neb.) | 25-6 | 460 |
| 6 | 2 | Park (Mo.) | 34-3 | 458 |
| 7 | 11 | Corban (Ore.) | 30-3 | 421 |
| 8 | 8 | Northwestern (Iowa) | 20-11 | 410 |
| 9 | 7 | Viterbo (Wis.) | 39-2 | 400 |
| 10 | 5 | Providence (Mont.) | 28-3 | 387 |
| 11 | 6 | Concordia (Neb.) | 19-12 | 368 |
| 12 | 16 | Eastern Oregon | 26-9 | 336 |
| 13 | 14 | Montana Tech | 23-10 | 316 |
| 14 | 19 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 29-9 | 305 |
| 15 | 14 | Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) | 25-10 | 294 |
| 16 | 17 | Indiana Wesleyan | 24-6 | 292 |
| 17 | 20 | Ottawa (Ariz.) | 26-4 | 230 |
| 18 | 10 | College of Saint Mary (Neb.) | 27-6 | 227 |
| 19 | 21 | Oregon Tech | 24-8 | 214 |
| 20 | 25 | Columbia (Mo.) | 30-9 | 186 |
| 21 | 22 | Grand View (Iowa) | 25-15 | 151 |
| 22 | RV | Taylor (Ind.) | 27-7 | 145 |
| 23 | RV | SAGU (Texas) | 27-8 | 124 |
| 24 | 18 | Dordt (Iowa) | 19-10 | 122 |
| 25 | RV | Ottawa (Kan.) | 18-9 | 112 |
Receiving Votes: Bushnell (Ore.) 76, Texas Wesleyan 68, Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 57, Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 51, Saint Xavier (Ill.) 42, Loyola (La.) 39, Bethel (Ind.) 38, Cornerstone (Mich.) 27, Westmont (Calif.) 26, Life (Ga.) 24, CIU (S.C.) 17, Dakota State (S.D.) 16, McPherson (Kan.) 5, Evangel (Mo.) 3, Vanguard (Calif.) 3, Doane (Neb.) 3
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