Montana Tech Orediggers Secure No. 21 Spot In NAIA Women's Volleyball Preseason Poll

The following is a release from the Montana Tech Sports Information Department:

KANSAS CITY, Mo.- The NAIA Women's Volleyball Coaches Top 25 Preseason Poll has been released, and the Orediggers of Montana Tech find themselves at No. 21 in the nation.

The Orediggers have the 13^th longest active Top 25 Poll streak in the country at 22 straight polls, dating back to the 2021 season.

Montana Tech won the Frontier Conference regular season championship a year ago with an 8-2 record. They also advance to the National Tournament, winning a first-round match at home, then going 1-1 in Sioux City, Iowa.

The Orediggers will start the 2024 campaign when they host the Big Sky Challenge in Butte, August 15^th – 17^th. You can view the schedule and rosters HERE.
Indiana Wesleyan, the defending national champions, enters the 2024 season at No. 1 and looks to continue its undefeated streak into the new year. Northwestern (Iowa) follows closely behind at No. 2 while ranks three through five remained the same as the 2023 final regular season rating, with Eastern Oregon, Concordia (Neb.) and Viterbo (Wis.) following, respectively.

Rating Methodology:

The rating is rated by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conference/Continental Athletic Conference (Independents).
The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each rater rates the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place, 28 for third-place and so on through the list.
The highest and lowest ratings for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) are removed. The team's rating will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the team appears on.
Teams that receive only one point on the ballot are not considered "receiving votes".

RANK	LAST TIME	INSTITUTION [1st VOTES]	RECORD	POINTS
1	2	Indiana Wesleyan [20]	38-0	591
2	1	Northwestern (Iowa) [1]	31-3	571
3	3	Eastern Oregon	34-2	554
4	4	Concordia (Neb.)	25-4	508
5	5	Viterbo (Wis.)	34-5	506
6	15	Midland (Neb.)	18-12	479
7	12	Columbia (Mo.)	32-7	453
8	6	Park (Mo.)	32-3	437
9	9	Jamestown (N.D.)	25-11	432
10	12	Southern Oregon	28-7	428
11	8	Missouri Baptist	27-7	407
12	7	Corban (Ore.)	28-7	372
13	25	Oklahoma Wesleyan	28-6	329
14	18	Bellevue (Neb.)	26-10	326
15	NR	Montana Western	22-8	326
16	14	IU Kokomo (Ind.)	34-4	266
17	16	College of Saint Mary (Neb.)	22-9	244
18	21	Central Methodist (Mo.)	22-11	236
19	22	St. Thomas (Fla.)	27-3	229
20	20	Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio)	31-9	214
21	11	Montana Tech	24-6	164
22	RV	Valley City State (N.D.)	23-11	157
23	NR	Providence (Mont.)	15-11	152
24	RV	Kansas Wesleyan	26-10	146
25	RV	Ottawa (Kan.)	22-12	138

Receiving Votes: Columbia International (S.C.) 109, Morningside (Iowa) 95, Nelson (Texas) 94, Bethel (Ind.) 62, Texas Wesleyan 59, Blue Mountain Christian (Miss.) 51, Benedictine (Kan.) 43, College of Idaho 29, St Ambrose (Iowa) 29, Marian (Ind.) 21, Loyola (La.) 20, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 17, Bethel (Kan.) 14, Xavier (La.) 14, Indiana Tech 12, IU East (Ind.) 12, Aquinas (Mich.) 11, Dakota state (S.D.) 9, Talladega (Ala.) 8, Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 7, McPherson (Kan.) 5, Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) 4

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