Each release of the national rankings by the American Volleyball Coaches Association since early 2002 has included the University of Minnesota Duluth. Zeroing in on 15-plus years in the national rankings, the Bulldogs came in at No. 7 in the national preseason coaches' poll released Monday afternoon.

Last fall UMD marched to an overall record of 25-5 and a third place finish in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings, finishing at No. 7 in the final poll of 2011. The NSIC had seven teams crack the preseason top 25, with defending NCAA II champion Concordia-St. Paul receiving 1149 points in the poll and the No. 1 slot. Southwest Minnesota State University (No. 2), Winona State University (No. 5), Augustana University (10), Wayne State College (13) and Northern State University (24) rounded out the league's representatives in the rankings.

The Bulldogs received 937 points on the voting scale. The Central Region, which consists of schools from the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), Great American Conference (GAC) and the NSIC, has 10 representatives in the poll, including the University of Nebraska-Kearney (No. 3), Washburn University (16) and the University of Central Missouri (No. 21). The central region bears the strongest competition in the nation with nine of the past 10 teams to come out of the region making it to the finals.

UMD, which officially started practice today, kicks off the 2017 season in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Bulldogs will take on both Saint Anselm College and host Nova Southeastern in the Nova Southeastern Invitational Sept. 1.

Full AVCA Top 25 Preseason Poll