Ricky Nelson’s 2022 preseason top 10

For your consideration. I like preseason polls for two reasons: they signal a new season is near; they get us thinking/talking about a new season.

My rank, (My final 2021 rank, AVCA final 2021 rank), 2021 record, 2021 finish 1 (1,1). Wisconsin-Eau Claire 35-3 Champion. 2 (4,3). Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 31-2 Semifinalist. 3 (2,2). Calvin 32-4 Runner-up. 4 (10,7). Berry 28-3 Quarterfinalist. 5 (9,11). NYU 28-2 Third round. 6 (3,4). Juniata 32-2 Semifinalist. 7 (NR,17). Northwestern 30-4 Second round. 8 (7,5). Trinity (Texas) 34-3 Quarterfinalist. 9 (NR,12). MIT 29-4 Quarterfinalist. 10 (NR,15). Otterbein 25-6 Third round. Dropped out from my final 2021 poll: No. 5 Wartburg (29-1); No. 6 Johns Hopkins (31-1); No. 8 Hope (25-5).

The AVCA’s 2022 preseason poll comes out next month. D3VbWest also has thoughts on the issue.

-Ricky Nelson