Follow
The preseason hype is at a historic level for Ball State.
Ball State for the first time in program history earned a top-five national preseason ranking as it finished No. 5 in the national coaches poll that was released Monday.
The Cardinals ended last season winning their third consecutive MIVA regular season championship and were ranked in the top 10 of the national media poll. The team also will feature three pin-hitters who each had more than a 3.80 kills per game average last season – returning starters Patrick Rogers and Tinaishe Ndavazocheva and offseason transfer Raje Alleyne.
The two-time defending NCAA champions UCLA finished atop the preseason coaches poll and earned all but one first-place vote.
UCLA returns multiple All-American starters, including setter Andrew Rowan and opposite Cooper Robinson. One change for the Bruins will be on the sidelines as John Hawks was named the new head coach after John Speraw this fall opted to step down to become the president of USA Volleyball.
Long Beach State was the only other school to receive a first-place vote in the preseason poll. The Beach after reaching the NCAA Tournament finals last season finished the poll at No. 2.
UC Irvine and Hawai’i also earned top-five spots in the poll.
The top-20 national coaches poll is one of two national polls in college men’s volleyball. Off the Block coordinates the top-10 national media poll, which does not release preseason rankings.
Both polls are not among the criteria the selection committee uses to determine the NCAA Tournament field or NCAA Tournament seeding.
2025 Preseason National Coaches Poll
1. UCLA – 458 (22) points
2. Long Beach State – 435 (1) points
3. UC Irvine – 411 points
4. Hawai’i – 387 points
5. Ball State – 332 points
6. BYU – 315 points
7. USC – 299 points
8. Penn State – 267 points
9. Grand Canyon – 260 points
10. Pepperdine – 255 points
11. Ohio State – 240 points
12. Loyola – 228 points
13. Stanford – 199 points
14. Lewis – 150 points
15. CSUN – 121 points
16. UC Santa Barbara – 105 points
17. George Mason – 68 points
18. UC San Diego – 63 points
19. Princeton – 58 points
20. McKendree – 42 points
Others receiving votes: NJIT 37; Belmont Abbey 18; Lindenwood 18; Lincoln Memorial 16; Saint Francis 15; Harvard 9; Fort Valley State 7; Purdue Fort Wayne 3