Grand View comes in at No. 10 in this week's NAIA Top 10 Poll

PARKVILLE, Mo. – In its first season as an NAIA men’s volleyball program, Grand View University took just two week’s to earn its way onto the NAIA Top 10 Poll coming in at No. 10 this week.

The Vikings are 1-0 this season, after defeating Robert Morris in three sets on Jan. 13, their first big test will take place this Friday, Jan. 27 when they take on No. 4 ranked Missouri Baptist at 7 p.m. at home.

For the third straight week, St. Ambrose took home the top spot in the NAIA Poll, the Fighting Bees began the season a perfect 5-0 last week with wins over Siena Heights, Lourdes (twice), Hannibal-LaGrange and Missouri Baptist.

No. 2 goes to Park University again for the third straight week, the Pirates have yet to open up its season. Park will take on Hannibal-LaGrange this Saturday, Jan. 28 at 1 p.m., then takes on No. 8 ranked Clarke University also on Saturday at 3 p.m.

No. 3 Warner University will open up its season Feb. 2 at Missouri Baptist then competes in five matches on Feb. 3-4 at the Lindenwood University Tournament.

No. 4 Missouri Baptist jumped up one spot this week, after losing to No. 1 St. Ambrose in four sets, 22-25, 27-29, 25-22, 17-25.

Hope International flipped spots with Missouri Baptist and comes in at No. 5 this week after losing to NCAA Division II Grand Canyon in three sets on Thursday evening.

Graceland University moved up one spot from No. 7 to No. 6 and Cardinal Stritch moved up from No. 8 to No. 7.

The CSU Wolves defeated St. Xavier and Milwaukee School of Engineering, then upset No. 6 ranked Clarke University in four sets on Saturday.

No. 8 Clarke fell two spots this week after a tough four set loss to Cardinal Stritch last week.

No. 9 this week goes to Missouri Valley. The Vikings went a perfect 4-0 to begin the year at the Mount St. Joseph Tournament with wins over Mount St. Joseph, King College, Siena Heights and Penn State-Behrend.

2012 NAIA Men’s Volleyball Top 10 Poll - Week 2

1. St. Ambrose University (Davenport, Iowa)
2. Park University (Parkville, Mo.)
3. Warner University (Lake Wales, Fla.)
4. Missouri Baptist (St. Louis, Mo.)
5. Hope International (Fullerton, Calif.)
6. Graceland University (Lamoni, Iowa)
7. Cardinal Stritch (Milwaukee, Wisc.)                          
8. Clarke University (Dubuque, Iowa)                                                                            
9. Missouri Valley (Marshall, Mo.)          
10. Grand View University (Des Moines, Iowa)

-MAMVIC-

Alo Tauaese led Cardinal Stritch to a perfect 3-0 record last week

PARKVILLE, Mo. – After leading No. 1 ranked St. Ambrose to a perfect 5-0 record to begin the 2012 season, Dan Dowjotas was named this week’s NAIA Player of the Week, while Cardinal Stritch’s Alo Tauaese is this week’s Setter of the Week and Danny Traylor of Missouri Baptist earned the Libero of the Week award.

The senior from Westmont, Ill. averaged 3.67 kills per set last week for St. Ambrose and posted a hitting percentage of .304 in five matches.

The Fighting Bee’s picked up wins over Siena Heights, Lourdes (twice), Hannibal-LaGrange and Missouri Baptist. Dowjotas also averaged 1.5 blocks per set.

Tauaese averaged a stellar 10.7 assists per set in three wins for Cardinal Stritch last week. The Wolves defeated St. Xavier and Milwaukee School of Engineering, then upset No. 6 ranked Clarke University in four sets on Saturday.

The Ponoma, Calif. native also averaged a block per set and 1.2 digs per game for CSU in its three matches.

Traylor had a terrific week for Missouri Baptist, averaging 2.5 digs per set and on 24 passing attempts had just one error, good for a 95.8 passing percentage.

 

-MAMVIC-