Cal State San Bernardino, with six of its top eight players returning to the fold, finds itself ranked No. 4 in NCAA Division II women’s volleyball in a pre-season poll conducted by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
The top 25 poll, released today by AVCA, contains four West Coast teams with defending NCAA Pacific Region champion Western Washington listed at No. 10, UC San Diego at No. 22 and Chico State at No. 25.
Concordia University of St. Paul, Minn., the 2007 NCAA Division II champion, is No. 1 in the pre-season poll and will face off against the Coyotes at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 28 in Coussoulis Arena on the CSUSB campus in the 2008 season opening Coyote Classic tournament.
The Coyotes volleyball program has been placed in the top 25 pre-season poll virtually every season since the year 2000 and they usually wind up in or near the top 10 at the end of the season. CSUSB (27-3) wound up No. 9 in the final 2007 season poll.
“It’s great to know that we’ve reached a point where people expect us to be good,” said Head Coach Kim Cherniss, starting her 18th season at the helm of the five-time California Collegiate Athletic Association champions.
“However, it’s not something that will change what we do to prepare for the season or reset our goals,” she added. Those goals are to win the conference first, then win the regional and then the national championship.
One of the Coyotes’ other opponents in its Coyote Classic that runs Aug. 28-30 is Lewis University, ranked No. 15 in the pre-season AVCA poll.
The first official poll is due out Sept. 1.
CBS College Sports/AVCA Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll
Rank School (1st place votes) Points 2007 record 07 Final Rank
1. Concordia-St. Paul (35) 897 36-4 1
2. Washburn 830 38-4 3
3. Truman 780 36-6 8
4. COYOTES 762 27-3 9
5. West Texas A&M 736 36-8 6
6. Grand Valley State 716 33-4 7
7. Tampa 693 31-3 4
8. Minnesota Duluth 630 29-2 5
9. Florida Southern 581 26-9 13
10. Western Washington (1) 555 26-5 2
11 .Emporia State 498 27-9 15
12 S’West Minnesota State 474 26-8 12
13 Central Missouri 443 31-7 10
14. Nebraska-Kearney 416 33-5 19
15. Lewis 372 32-4 11
16. Indianapolis 339 33-4 17
17. Pittsburg State 320 28-9 18
18. Hillsdale 298 26-8 16
19 Minnesota State 248 19-9 21
20 Augustana (SD) 194 19-11 24
21. Ashland 178 25-6 20
22 .UC San Diego 158 20-8 22
23. West Florida 99 26-4 NR
24. Nova Southeastern 81 28-10 NR
25. Chico State 63 16-13 NR
Others receiving votes included: Hawaii Pacific, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State L.A., Hawaii-Hilo, Northwest Nazarene.
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