This is Mizzou's highest preseason ranking since 2006.
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Fresh off of its 35-1, SEC Championship season, the Mizzou volleyball program has been ranked No. 15 nationally in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Preseason Top-25 Poll, as announced Monday (Aug. 11). The No. 15 national rank is the second-highest preseason placement ever for the Tigers in program history and it is the best since the team checked in at No. 13 in the 2006 AVCA Preseason poll.
"While it is great to be ranked at this point of the season, it is just a preseason poll and we recognize the amount of work that needs to be put in order to back up that ranking," head coach Wayne Kreklow said. "To have our name up there with some of the names on this list says a lot about what our team has achieved over the past several seasons. We have a lot of talent on this year's team and I know they are ready to get out there and start competing."
Mizzou is one of three SEC teams ranked in the Preseason Top-25, trailing only No. 10 Florida. Mizzou compiled 547 total votes in this year's preseason poll, ahead of No. 16 Michigan State (494) and behind No. 14 San Diego (628). The preseason rank means that Mizzou has now been ranked in the last 10 consecutive AVCA Top-25 polls, dating back to Oct. 7 of last season.
The Tigers will open the 2014 season on Aug. 20 with the annual Black & Gold Scrimmage at 6:30 p.m. For all the latest on Mizzou volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MizzouVB.
Rank - School (First-Place Votes) - Total Points
1 - Penn State (32) - 1417
2 - Texas (11) - 1389
3 - Stanford (7) - 1356
4 - Washington- 1280
5 - USC (2) -1272
6 - Wisconsin (8) - 1264
7 - Nebraska - 1149
8 - Purdue - 980
9 - BYU - 924
10 - Florida -897
11 - Illinois - 813
12 - Minnesota - 802
13 - Florida State - 695
14 - San Diego- 628
15 - Missouri - 54
16 - Michigan State - 494
17 - Hawai'i - 481
18 - Colorado State - 472
19 - Kentucky - 452
20 - North Carolina - 378
21 - Duke - 361
22 - Kansas - 232
23 - Creighton- 184
24 - American - 134
25 - Arizona State - 129
Others Receiving Votes and appearing on two or more ballots: Oregon 115; Oklahoma 114; California 111; Marquette 102; Arizona 60; Iowa State 59; LSU 52; Colorado 32; UC Santa Barbara 26; Michigan 23; UCLA 23; Cal State Northridge 19; Long Beach State 11; New Mexico 9; UT San Antonio 3