Aug. 19, 2008

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Fresno Pacific (Calif.), member of the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC), tops the preseason NAIA Volleyball Ratings and enters the 2008 campaign as reigning national champions. Four other GSAC members cracked the top ten including California Baptist, Concordia (Calif.), Biola (Calif.), Azusa Pacific (Calif.) and Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.). The Fresno Pacific Sunbirds return 2007 NAIA Player of the Year Shu Liu and are set to compete in the Southern Oregon Invitational and the Concordia Labor Day Festival in late August.

Columbia (Mo.), Northwestern (Iowa), College of Idaho and Madonna (Mich.) round out the top ten selections.

The first regular season ranking will be released on Tuesday, September 9.

RANK	LAST YEAR	SCHOOL	1st Place Votes	2007 Win/Loss	FINAL POINTS
1	1	Fresno Pacific University (Calif.)	25	38-1	715
2	2	California Baptist University		32-5	692
3	3	Concordia University (Calif.)		30-6	669
4	4	Biola University (Calif.)		32-8	646
5	5	Azusa Pacific University (Calif.)		21-10	614
6	6	Columbia College (Mo.)		30-10	596
7	17	Northwestern College (Iowa)		31-12	550
8	9	Point Loma Nazarene University (Calif.)		17-13	528
9	8	College of Idaho (Idaho)		25-8	500
10	21	Madonna University (Mich.)		35-12	479
11	14	Georgetown College (Ky.)		39-6	467
12	10	Southern Oregon University		26-6	416
13	15	Morningside College (Iowa)		33-4	413
14	7	Dickinson State University (N.D.)		30-4	403
15	12	Lindenwood University (Mo.)		41-8	396
16	20	Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho)		26-8	360
17	23	Walsh University (Ohio)		29-9	338
18	24	Campbellsville University (Ky.)		36-9	334
19	18	University of Texas at Brownsville		36-9	310
20	19	Dordt College (Iowa)		32-9	267
21	16	Vanguard University (Calif.)		10-16	208
22	RV	Bellevue University (Neb.)		27-14	189
23	RV	Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.)		23-21	171
24	22	Westminster College (Utah)		25-12	165
25	13	Mount Vernon Nazarene University (Ohio)		39-5	130

Others receiving votes: Savannah College of Art and Design (Ga.) 126; University of Mobile (Ala.) 107; Indiana Wesleyan University 82; Hastings College (Neb.) 79; Lubbock Christian University (Texas) 64; Missouri Baptist University 51; Cornerstone University (Mich.) 48; Freed-Hardeman University (Tenn.) 48; Lee University (Tenn.) 41; Westmont College (Calif.) 24; Montana Tech of the University of Montana 17; Texas Wesleyan University 17; Oklahoma City University 16; Black Hills State University (S.D.) 16; Oregon Institute of Technology 13; Indiana University Southeast 10; Webber International University (Fla.) 7; Taylor University (Ind.) 5; King College (Tenn.) 5; Saint Xavier University (Ill.) 5; College of the Ozarks (Mo.) 4; Bethel College (Kan.) 4; University of Great Falls (Mont.) 3; William Penn University (Iowa) 3; Berry College (Ga.) 3; Malone College (Ohio) 1; Martin Methodist College (Tenn.) 1; William Jewell College (Mo.) 1; Southwestern Assemblies of God University (Texas) 1; South Dakota School of Mines & Tech. 1.