INDIANAPOLIS - The Lewis University, Rockhurst University, and University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball teams have been selected to win their respective divisions for the upcoming spring 2021 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) season, it was announced by the league office Wednesday. The annual GLVC Volleyball Preseason Poll was voted on by the league's 15 head coaches and ranks the top-five teams in each of the three divisions.
In response to adjustments needed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the GLVC regular season will feature three divisions and an 18-game schedule, where every team plays every divisional opponent twice - home and away - and every non-divisional opponent once at a pod site. The top-eight teams - based on the
GLVC Point Rating System (PRS) - will earn a berth to the GLVC Volleyball Championship Tournament April 15-17 at the familiar EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Illinois.
Lewis is the preseason favorite in the East Division this year, earning 68 points and 12 first-place votes. In the fall of 2019, the Flyers fell in the semifinal round of the GLVC Championship Tournament but earned at an-large bid as the No. 1 seed to the NCAA Midwest Regional where they fell to Rockhurst in the second round. Head coach Lorelee Smith is entering her 14th season and will bring back All-GLVC honoree in senior attacker Ava Venema, along with four other experienced upperclassmen. Lewis finished the 2019 season ranked 14th in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Poll and will begin this spring in the same position in the AVCA Preseason Poll.
Behind Lewis in the East was the University of Indianapolis in second with 59 points and the other three first-place votes. The University of Illinois Springfield followed in third with 41 points, ahead of the University of Southern Indiana (27) in fourth and McKendree University (25) close behind in fifth.
The defending GLVC Regular Season and Tournament Champion Hawks picked up 10 first-place votes in the poll and 65 points to rank atop the West Division. Rockhurst also won the Midwest Regional as the fifth seed before making an historic run to the NCAA Semifinals in the fall of 2019. The squad will be under new leadership this season, as Missouri Sports Hall of Famer, Division II's second winningest coach all-time, and 32-year veteran Tracy Rietzke retired from the helm. He is succeeded by Trent Jones, who spent the last nine seasons on staff at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the last six of which were as associate head coach. He inherits unanimous First Team All-GLVC setter Dani Prusha and second-team libero Jadyn Makovicka, who will lead the AVCA Preseason Poll fourth-ranked Hawks into this unprecedented campaign.
Drury University received the other five first-place votes in the West to place second in the division with 60 points. Missouri S&T's 45 points claimed third, while William Jewell College garnered 32 for fourth place, and Southwest Baptist University rounded out the division in fifth with 18 points.
Missouri-St. Louis earned 70 points and all possible first-place votes (14), as league policy prohibits teams from voting for themselves, to rank first in the Central Division. In the 2019 season, the Tritons advanced to the GLVC finals but fell to Rockhurst in five sets. Reigning GLVC Coach of the Year, Ryan Young, begins his 11th year with the team and 10th as head coach after also leading the Tritons to an at-large berth into the NCAA Midwest Regional where they fell in the first round. Coming back to the lineup will be unanimous All-GLVC setter and libero Kaileen Herman and Megan Woll, respectively, along with first-team attacker Charlotte Richards. The team will commence the spring slate receiving votes just outside the top-25 of the AVCA Preseason Poll.
Truman State University collected 51 points for second in the Central Division, while Quincy picked up the other first-place vote (46) for third. Lindenwood's 34 points was good for fourth, and Maryville (19) was fifth.
Be sure to follow
@GLVCsports on Twitter and Instagram - hashtag
#GLVCvb - and stay tuned for coverage throughout the season on the GLVC Sports Network (GLVCSN). 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 fireTV, and Android TV OTT platforms.
The complete poll follows below.
SPRING 2021 GLVC VOLLEYBALL PRESEASON POLL
| EAST |
|
WEST |
|
CENTRAL |
|
| Place/School |
Points (1st-place votes) |
Place/School |
Points (1st) |
Place/School |
Points (1st) |
| 1. Lewis |
68 (12) |
1. Rockhurst |
65 (10) |
1. Missouri-St. Louis |
70 (14) |
| 2. Indianapolis |
59 (3) |
2. Drury |
60 (5) |
2. Truman State |
51 |
| 3. Illinois Springfield |
41 |
3. Missouri S&T |
45 |
3. Quincy |
46 (1) |
| 4. Southern Indiana |
27 |
4. William Jewell |
32 |
4. Lindenwood |
34 |
| 5. McKendree |
25 |
5. Southwest Baptist |
18 |
5. Maryville |
19 |