LEXINGTON, Ky.— Just two days after
being tabbed second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Preseason Poll, the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks received some more pre-season love as they were picked 17
th in the 2024 AVCA/TARAFLEX Division II Preseason Poll, announced by the American Volleyball Coaches Association on Friday.
The Mavericks were the third of three RMAC teams in the top 25 of the national poll behind RMAC poll favorite MSU Denver, picked seventh in the national poll, and No. 13 Regis, which was picked third behind the Mavs in Wednesday's conference coaches' poll.
The Mavericks will play those teams a combined four times during the season and also have some challenging early season non-conference matches on the slate against AVCA poll No. 5 Concordia-St. Paul, which received three first place votes as well as Angelo State and Gannon, who are both receiving votes in the national poll.
The Mavericks received 432 points in the national poll after finishing 16
th in the final edition of the 2023 poll, taken after the conclusion of the NCAA Tournament.
The Mavs have now been ranked amongst the nation's top 25 in 28 consecutive polls since early in the 2022 season and reached as high as No. 9 last year after starting the year ranked 21
st in the preseason poll.
Defending national champion Cal State-LA received 33 of the possible 47 possible first place votes and will begin the year ranked first with 1,113 poll points. Tampa (1,078), West Texas A&M (1,034), Wayne State (Neb.) (1,003) also all received more than 1,000 points while claiming 11 other first place votes while Concordia St-Paul has 955 points in the poll.
The Mavericks will begin their season on Sept. 6 facing Gannon and Concordia-St. Paul on the opening day of the Oredigger Volleyball Classic. They will also play Michigan Tech and Concord the following day before returning home to host the Holiday Inn Express Maverick Fall Classic from Sept. 12-14 and will play Angelo State in their third of four matches at that home tournament on Saturday, Sept. 14.
