2023 AVCA Top 25 (Preseason)

The AVCA have released their preseason Top 25 Poll. This initial poll has all of the Elite 8 teams from last season in the Top 10 with two interlopers (CMS and Calvin) mixed in, as well. Before we look at the rankings it should be noted that the AVCA did not list 90 “adjusted” first place votes but only 86. I am assuming that they will go with 90 again this year, which means 4 coaches voted a team first that didn’t make the Top 25. I would be curious to see which teams these are but the coaches ballots are not available. As a reminder, “adjusted” means if less than 90 coaches vote then the AVCA will take that order and award those teams adjusted points based on their ranking. In a nutshell, it just means the final order (points) is typically closer than what the rankings show.

Off to the rankings we go and we see that the defending champions, Juniata, sit in first with 81 first place votes and 2140 adjusted points. Second place Trinity secures the same position receiving 1922 adjusted points. CMS is sort of a surprise team (although I had them second in my rankings) at the three spot and they even received 3 first place votes. NYU follows in 4th with Northwestern in 5th. Hope, the only other team to receive first place votes (2) that we can see sits in 6th.

For the most part, the teams that were in the final 2022 rankings appear in some order in this preseason version. You can’t really blame the coaches for that as there is really not enough information to go on for those coaches that don’t read this site. (Giggle. See what I did there.)

Teams that I had in my poll that don’t make these rankings are UC Santa Cruz, Colorado College, Ohio Northern, Chicago, Johnson & Wales (RI) and North Park. I will say that I’m feeling less confident about UC Santa Cruz after seeing their 2023 roster as both Samantha Taylor and Lauren Bliss have graduated early.

Teams in the AVCA rankings that I didn’t have were Gustavus Adolphus, Tufts, Christopher Newport, Otterbein, Williams and UW-Eau Claire. Most of these are good selections although Williams is just silly as they were rewarded with a ranking last year because they made the regional final after knocking off Wesleyan. NCAA Rule 56 Subsection 3 Part II, “New England teams must be given the benefit of the doubt in all cases despite any evidence to the contrary.” UW-Eau Claire also worries me a bit as they lost over 60% to senior graduation.

There were a ton of teams receiving votes and 16 more teams were mentioned on only one ballot. Region X teams mentioned were Trinity (2), CMS (3), Colorado College (RV), UC Santa Cruz (RV), UT-Dallas (RV), Southwestern (RV), Cal Lutheran (RV), Pomona-Pitzer (RV) and Puget Sound (RV). With only two teams ranked, you can see how the region has fallen in stature in recent years. I’d love to see this change starting in a couple of weeks!