The MATCH function works regardless of whether the list is sorted. The match type = 0 prevents false matches. And, if you want the rank that corresponds with a given category, simply use:
=OFFSET($A$2,MATCH(S11,$A$2:$A$7,0)-1,1)
You can use the same logic to find which category corresponds with a given rank. For example, with a given rank in S12:


=OFFSET($A$2,MATCH(S12,$B$2:$B$7,0)-1,0)
Of course, where you have multiple values with the same rank, this only reports the first one. The formulae for finding the second & subsequent instances of the same rank are rather more complicated.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Thanks again for taking the time to reply. This has been an interesting challenge. I've attached a worksheet with both formulas as you've suggested. The intent of this worksheet is to score each of the highlighted columns using this formula. As you can see it is not working as planned, there must be something I'm not doing right or something I've missed telling you as it does on paper seem fairly straight forward. I think what I missed telling you is I am searching for a string within a string which Match may not be able to do? The search string would contain more than just the item being searched for.

thanks again
d