LEXINGTON, Ky.— After spending nearly all of last season ranked amongst the nation's top 25 last year, the Colorado Mesa University Maverick volleyball team will begin the 2023 season in that group as well, according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA)/TARAFLEX Division II Preseason Poll, released Tuesday by the AVCA.
 
The Mavericks, coming off a 22-7 season and a trip to the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament semifinals last year, occupy the No. 21 spot in the poll after receiving 234 points in the polling of 47 member coaches from around the nation.
 
They were included in the top 25 of all 12 regular season poll plus final post-season poll of 2022, reaching as high as No. 15 and finishing at No. 21.
 
The Mavericks are one of four Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams amongst the top 25 of this year's preseason poll with defending conference regular season and tournament champions MSU Denver, checking in at the No. 3 spot after falling in the regional final to eventual 2022 national champion West Texas A&M, which is the No. 1 team in the preseason poll with 42 first place votes and 1,139 points.
 
National runner-up Concordia-St. Paul received the other five first place votes in the poll and is in the No. 2 spot with 1,096 points, 108 more than MSU Denver's 988.

Other RMAC members Regis (327) and Colorado School of Mines (204) are ranked 18^th and 22^nd in the poll.
 
The four nationally-ranked RMAC schools were also in the top four spots of the RMAC Preseason Poll, released last week.  The Mavericks will play each of the other three a combined five times in regular season play, welcoming each to Brownson Arena during the campaign.
 
Non-conference foe Dallas Baptist University, one of the teams coming to the DoubleTree by Hilton Maverick Fall Classic tournament that the Mavs will host from Sept. 7-9, is also amongst the "others receiving votes and listed on two more ballots" category of the poll.
 
The Mavericks are scrimmaging Westminster University (Utah) and Northwest Nazarene University in Salt Lake City this Saturday and then begin the regular season on Sept. 1-2 at the Oredigger Classic Presented by Courtyard and Residence Inn by Marriott in Golden.