LEXINGTON, Ky.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team will begin the 2021 season ranked in the nation's top 10 after the Mavericks were slotted tenth in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division II Coaches' Top 25 Preseason Poll, released Monday morning.

The Mavericks received 607 points in the polling of 47 head coaches from around the country, who each handicapped the Division II title chase.

CMU reaches as high as No. 2 and finished in the No. 3 spot of the AVCA poll at the end of the spring season.  Those polls only included teams who participated in the pandemic-effected and unusual spring season.  The Mavericks went 15-1 overall and won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's regular season title.

Angelo State, which won the Division II Invitational Tournament in the spring, received top billing in the preseason poll with 1,018 points and 22 first place votes.  Regular title contender Concordia St.-Paul was picked second with nine first place votes and 969 points while Cal State San Bernardino, which won the last Division II title in the fall of 2019 received 15 first place votes to come in third in the poll with 957 points.
Nebraska-Kearney, Tampa, Lewis, Minnesota Duluth, Washburn and Oklahoma Baptist are also in the top 10.

The Mavericks are one of four RMAC teams in the poll sitting just ahead of MSU-Denver the Colorado School of Mines, which are ranked 11^th and 12^th, respectively.  Regis is ranked 22^nd.

The Mavericks will officially begin their season on Sept. 3 and 4 at the Courtyard and Residence Inn by Marriott Oredigger Volleyball Classic in Golden.  The Mavericks will take on Southwest Minnesota State, receiving 89 points in the poll, in their first match and will also place Grand Valley State, which received three points in the poll, on the second day of the tournament.