Emmanuel Men's Volleyball Ranked 14th Nationally in Pre-Season Poll

The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) released its 2011 Division III Preseason Top 15 national poll on Thursday, January 13th.  According to the poll, the Emmanuel College Men’s Volleyball Team is ranked 14th in the country to begin the 2011 season.  The Saints finished their record-breaking season in 2010 with a 27-11 overall record and an 11-1 mark in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC).

Emmanuel returns 15 veterans from last year’s squad, which made the program’s third-straight trip to the GNAC Tournament Finals.  The Saints are slated to play an extremely tough regular season schedule this year, which features matches against five of the teams ranked along with the Saints in the preseason Top 15.

Emmanuel opens the 2011 season on Thursday night, when the Saints play host to the Mustangs of Mount Ida College in the conference opener.  The match is scheduled to begin at 7pm in the Jean Yawkey Center.

The completes AVCA Division III Preseason Top-15 is as follows:

1. Springfield
2. Juniata
3. Nazareth
4. UC Santa Cruz
5. Rivier
6. Philadelphia Biblical
7. Baruch
8. MIT
9. Carthage
10. Stevens
11. MSOE
12. NYU
13. Endicott
14. Emmanuel
15. Ramapo

Others Receiving Votes and appearing on two or more ballots: Vassar 9; D'Youville 2