October 09, 2012

By Travis Rae, NAIA Communications and Sports Information Intern

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Texas at Brownsville received 22-of-23 first-place votes and garnered 653 to remain the top team in the sixth edition of the Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. This is the eighth-consecutive week the Scorpions have been ranked No. 1.

Texas at Brownsville defeated Our Lady of the Lake (Texas), 3-0 (25-14, 25-11, 26-24), in its only match last week, increasing its NAIA best winning-streak to 25 games.

Nos. 2-5 remained the same as last week's edition. No. 2 Concordia (Calif.) received the final first place vote and earned 632 points, while No. 3 Columbia (Mo.) received 611 points. No. 4 Biola (Calif.) tallied 590 points, and No. 5 Lee (Tenn.) captured 567 points.

No. 10 Oklahoma Baptist and No. 13 Georgetown (Ky.) both improved two spots this week. The No. 10 ranking is the highest ever for the Bison, dating back to 2000. Last week, Oklahoma Baptist defeated NCAA Division II Arkansas- Fort Smith 3-0, (25-19, 25-17, 25-21), Wayland Baptist (Texas), 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-21), and Lubbock Christian (Texas), 3-2 (14-25, 25-15, 21-25, 25-13, 17-15). Georgetown was 1-0 last week with a 3-2 (25-19, 25-17, 23-25, 17-25, 15-10) win over Campbellsville (Ky.)

No. 15 Westmont (Calif.) continued to slide in the polls after being upset by Vanguard (Calif.) on Oct. 2. Its five position slide was the biggest in the polls this week.

For the second-consecutive week, no new teams joined the Top 25.

Sixteen conferences/independents/unaffiliated groups are represented throughout the Top 25, led by the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) with four ranked teams. Representing the GSAC are Concordia, Biola, No. 8The Master's (Calif.) and Westmont. The Great Plains Athletic Conference placed a trio of ranked teams in the poll.

The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and Independents. The sixth regular-season poll will be announced on Oct. 16.

2012 Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 Poll - No. 6