WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: Rivier, JWU Chosen Atop 2022 GNAC Preseason Poll
The GNAC women's volleyball landscape will look a bit different with new head coaches, but powerhouses Rivier and JWU still finished 1-2 in the preseason poll.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Rivier, JWU, Simmons share
the GNAC's 14 first-place votes
WINTHROP, Mass. – The Great Northeast Athletic Conference women's volleyball landscape will look a bit different without former Rivier University head coach Craig Kolek and former Johnson & Wales University (RI) head coach Nancy Somera, however both programs still finished first and second in the annual GNAC Preseason Poll, as voted upon by the league's 14 head coaches.
Rivier received seven of a possible 14 first-place votes to take the top spot in the poll with 189 points, as Avery Pollard, Sydney Racevicius, Sofia Pawlusik and Lily Sills (pictured) all return for new head coach Jeff Costa, who played under Kolek and was the head coach at Merrimack during the Warriors' transition from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I in 2019.
JWU, which has won the last six GNAC titles under Somera, recently hired Michael Houlihan as the Wildcats' newest head coach after a long stint at UMass Boston. Last year, the powerhouse program appeared to take a step back, going 11-2 in GNAC play to mark JWU's first setbacks against conference regular-season competition since 2015. Nonetheless, the Wildcats defeated Simmons University in the 2021 GNAC Semifinals, 3-1, before downing rival Rivier, 3-1, on the road in the GNAC title game.
JWU garnered four first-place votes and 181 points in the poll, while Simmons finished third with three-first place votes and 168 points as the Sharks welcome new head coach Patrick Helmas.
Simmons will compete at JWU against the Wildcats and Regis in a tri-match on October 8, before hosting Rivier on Oct. 13., while Riv hosts JWU on Oct. 26. The 2022 GNAC Tournament dates are scheduled for Tues-Thurs-Sat, November 1, 3 and 5.
Lasell University secured the fourth spot in the rankings with 147 points, narrowly ahead of Regis College's 134 points.
Making up the rest of the poll were Norwich University (125 points), Elms College (117), Colby-Sawyer College (87), Saint Joseph's College of Maine (84), Emmanuel College (68), University of Saint Joseph (CT) (65), Dean College (46), Albertus Magnus College (38), and Anna Maria College (21).
2022 GNAC Women's Volleyball Preseason Poll
The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 14 member institutions and over 3,500 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 22 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience.
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