UC Irvine Tabbed Nation's No. 1 Again
December 11, 2013 | Men's Volleyball
Irvine, Calif. -- For the second consecutive year, the UC Irvine men's volleyball team tops the AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Preseason Poll.
The two-time defending champions rank first with 246 total points and nine first places votes. UCLA was second at 238 and three first place votes followed by BYU in third, receiving 235 votes and four first place nods. Also garnering one first place vote was Long Beach State (218) at No. 4 and Stanford at No. 5 (202).
"I'm intrigued by this ranking," head coach David Kniffin said. "Kevin Tillie was, in my estimation, the best player in the country last year. Plus we lost our two-time National Championship starting setter in Chris Austin. I think there will be more parity in the league than in the past few years. We're happy to wear the target for now, but are also prepared to have it move around a bit."
In 2013, the Anteaters won their fourth national championship in the last seven years, ending with a 25-7 overall record and the final No.1 ranking. UCI returns 10 letterwinners, including All-Americans Michael Brinkley and Collin Mehring in 2014.
UCI will host a Canadian double-header on Dec. 28, facing the University of British Columbia at 2:00 p.m. and Red Deer at 5:00 p.m. at Crawford Court.
AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll
Preseason Poll
Rank School (First-Place Votes) Total Points 2013 Record 2013 Final Rank
1 UC Irvine (9) 246 25-7 1
2 UCLA (3) 238 21-11 4
3 BYU (4) 235 26-5 2
4 Long Beach State (1) 218 24-8 3
5 Stanford (1) 202 15-13 6
6 Pepperdine 175 14-12 5
7 Loyola-Chicago 126 22-11 9
8 UC Santa Barbara 116 15-16 7
9 Penn State 107 23-8 12
10 Lewis 99 20-10 10
11 Southern California 87 6-18 NR
12 Ohio State 78 19-8 15
13 Hawai'i 72 11-17 13
14 Cal State Northridge 48 11-15 14
15 California Baptist 32 16-14 8
Others Receiving Votes and appearing on two or more ballots: Pacific 24; Ball State 17; Harvard 14; Princeton 11; UC San Diego 5
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