INDIANAPOLIS – Lewis University has been selected as the 2019 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Volleyball favorite, it was announced by the league office Tuesday. The Conference's preseason poll reflects the opinions of the GLVC head coaches, who awarded the Flyers eight of the possible 15 first-place votes, as league policy prohibits coaches from voting for their own team.
The GLVC regular season will feature a 15-match, single round-robin schedule this fall with eight pairs of travel partners. The regular season champion, along with the next seven best teams based on Conference winning percentage, will earn a berth to the eight-team GLVC Volleyball Championship Tournament on Nov. 21-23 at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Illinois.
The Flyers repeated as preseason favorites this year, earning 216 points to top the poll. Despite falling in the semifinals of the GLVC Championship Tournament to eventual champion, Rockhurst, head coach Lorelee Smith – entering her 13th season at Lewis – guided the 2018 squad to a share of the regular season Conference title and a historic run in the NCAA Tournament, concluding the year at 29-8. The Flyers started with an at-large bid, followed by avenging its loss to the Hawks to win the Midwest Regional title, before advancing all the way to the national semifinal match for the second time in three years. Lewis finished in the final 2018 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Poll at No. 7 and will return a pair of All-GLVC senior attackers Alexandra Preuss and Caroline Stefanon.
Rockhurst University picked up the other eight first-place votes in the poll and 204 points to be ranked second in the preseason for the second year in a row. The Hawks went 32-7 overall and 14-4 in league matches, which earned them the No. 4 seed in the postseason where they swept then-23rd-ranked Lewis, 3-0, in the GLVC Championship semifinal before upsetting then-No. 14 Drury, 3-1, in the finals to win their second league crown. Rockhurst later fell to the Flyers in the NCAA Regional championship match, concluding the year at No. 16 in the AVCA Poll. Coming back to veteran mentor Tracy Rietzke’s lineup will be two All-GLVC first-team senior attackers in Alyssa Woodman and Karli Reichert.
No. 3 Illinois Springfield earned 194 points to match its highest predicted finish for the second-straight year since beginning Conference competition in 2009. After a 25-8 overall record and 15-3 GLVC mark in 2018, the Prairie Stars will return a trio of All-GLVC picks in senior attacker Allison Splitt, senior libero Jailyn Borum, and junior attacker Brianna Bush. Reigning GLVC Coach of the Year, Trey Salinas, also returns to the sidelines for UIS after leading the team to its first GLVC Regular Season championship with a share of the title, its second appearance in the postseason event and semifinal round, along with the program’s first NCAA Tournament bid.
Drury University (177), which earned a share of the 2018 GLVC Regular Season championship, follows in the poll at No. 4, just ahead of fifth-place University of Indianapolis (172), both of which welcome back a pair of All-GLVC picks. The Greyhounds edged Bellarmine University (153) in the poll, while the No. 6 Knights were ahead of seventh-place Truman State University (145) by eight points. McKendree University tallied 131 points to round out the top half of the poll in eighth, while league newcomer Lindenwood University (115) clocked in at ninth in its first year of Conference affiliation, and the University of Missouri-St. Louis was picked 10th with 103 points. Spots 11-15 respectively went to Missouri S&T (91), University of Southern Indiana (59), William Jewell College (57), Quincy University (52), and Maryville University, while the other first-year GLVC member Southwest Baptist University completes the poll at No. 16 with 23 points.
Be sure to follow @GLVCsports on Twitter and Instagram – hashtag #GLVCvb – and stay tuned for coverage throughout the season on the GLVC Sports Network. Matches can be seen by logging on to the GLVCSN’s official website,
GLVCSN.com, or on the GLVCSN iOS/Android mobile apps, as well as on the Roku TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV OTT platforms.
The complete poll follows below.
2019 GLVC VOLLEYBALL PRESEASON POLL
| Rank |
School |
Points (1st-Place Votes) |
| 1. |
Lewis |
216 (8) |
| 2. |
Rockhurst |
204 (8) |
| 3. |
Illinois Springfield |
194 |
| 4. |
Drury |
177 |
| 5. |
Indianapolis |
172 |
| 6. |
Bellarmine |
153 |
| 7. |
Truman State |
145 |
| 8. |
McKendree |
131 |
| 9. |
Lindenwood |
115 |
| 10. |
Missouri-St. Louis |
103 |
| 11. |
Missouri S&T |
91 |
| 12. |
Southern Indiana |
59 |
| 13. |
William Jewell |
57 |
| 14. |
Quincy |
52 |
| 15. |
Maryville |
28 |
| 16. |
Southwest Baptist |
23 |