Defending champs enter 2017 atop AVCA poll

Defending champion Calvin is the top-ranked team in AVCA’s 2017 preseason poll. The Knights received 62 of 63 number-one votes in claiming the No. 1 ranking.

Emory received the remaining first-place vote and lists second in the poll followed by Washington-St. Louis — last year’s runner-up — in third, Northwestern in fourth and Southwestern in fifth.

Rounding out the AVCA’s top 10 are Cal Lutheran, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Colorado College, Mary Washington and Texas Dallas.

Other Central and Midwest region teams in the AVCA’s preseason top 25: No. 12 UW-Whitewater; No. 17 Millikin; No. 18 UW-La Crosse; No. 21 Elmhurst; No. 23 UW-Oshkosh; No. 24 Gustavus Adolphus.

Central and Midwest region teams receiving votes: Illinois Wesleyan; Chicago; UW-Stevens Point; St. Thomas; Wartburg; Bethel; UW-Eau Claire.

My top 10 had Wittenberg, Gustavus Adolphus, Chicago, Illinois Wesleyan and Trinity (Texas) instead of Southwestern, Cal Lutheran, Colorado College, Mary Washington and Texas Dallas.

-Ricky Nelson