The nation’s top-ranked team for the majority of last season and scheduled to be hosts of the 2023 NCAA Championships, Preseason No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges are favorites to repeat as conference champions for the seventh consecutive season in the 2023 SCIAC Women’s Volleyball Preseason Poll, as voted by the league’s head coaches.
The Athenas return six All-Conference selections from a squad that only bowed out of the NCAA Championship to eventual runner-up Trinity (Texas) University in a tough Third Round West Region matchup. Offensive and Defensive Athletes of the Year Jenna Holmes and Dede Carranza headline a deep and experienced group for Coaching Staff of the Year winner Kurt Vlasich that also boasts First Team All-SCIAC right-side hitter Brenna Bell, middle blocker Audrey Sawyer and England National Team setter Georgia McGovern. Holmes was named the AVCA National Player of the Year as the team’s leader in kills while Carranza averaged 4.90 digs and 0.57 aces per set in conference play. Sawyer re-set her own program record with a .397 hitting percentage while Bell, an AVCA All-America First Team choice, hit a superb .400 opposite Holmes with McGovern earning Second Team recognition as the lead setter in CMS’ 6-2 system.
SCIAC Tournament finalists for the first time in program history, RV Pomona-Pitzer Colleges are seen as the top challenger this year behind one of the top outside hitter tandems in the region between Second Team honorees Chloe Gill and Paige Mountanos. The pair combined for 486 kills and 76 total blocks, with Gill adding 119 digs.
The University of La Verne is tabbed to take another step up to third place behind their top two hitters from last season in Newcomer of the Year and AVCA All-American Mya Ray and Second Teamer Ayanna Mier. Ray smacked a whopping 392 kills and made 331 digs with 38 total blocks while Mier returns for a fifth year after posting 266 kills and 58 total blocks.
RV California Lutheran University is still expected to make the SCIAC Tournament but as the #4 seed after earning the #2 spot in 2022. Outside hitter Sophia Muller will be pushing hard after missing last year’s tournament due to injury after an impressive sophomore campaign that earned her First Team All-SCIAC recognition thanks to her 260 kills, 208 digs, 64 total blocks and 32 service aces.
Whittier College is slated to finish fifth as three significant contributors return. Xenia Villagomez was second on the team with 160 kills and third with 70 blocks, while Analise Kusleika and Maia Cicero combined on 76 and 74 total blocks, respectively.
Second Team honoree Julie Denison leads the returning contingent for Chapman University, having racked up 242 kills and 226 digs. Caltech’s Halle Blend averaged 7.75 assists per set to go with 203 digs, 69 kills, 22 service aces and 22 total blocks to earn a spot on the Second Team as well.
Occidental College welcomes back a trio of returning starters along the front row in Ariana Carranza, Eliana Channell and Aniya Hawthorne. As a group they combined for 365 kills while Carranza added 186 digs, Channell 41 total blocks and Hawthorne 23 aces. The University of Redlands has a new head coach in Savannah Cox, who has its entire starting front row and setter back in rookie quartet Avery Aminoff, Ella Goettsche, Paige Sugg and Lyric Waterman under the senior leadership of top blocker Kiana Stradford.
2023 SCIAC Women’s Volleyball Preseason Poll
1. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 81 points (9 first-place votes)
2. Pomona-Pitzer, 65 pts
3. La Verne, 64 pts
4. California Lutheran, 59 pts
5. Whittier, 41 pts
6. Chapman, 39 pts
7. Caltech, 23 pts
8. Occidental, 19 pts
9. Redlands, 14 pts
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