Volleyball Nabs 15th spot in preseason ranking

Libero Rylie Haas (1) celebrates a point. Waltonian | The Waltonian

There are a lot of things to be optimistic about for Eastern’s Women’s volleyball team. Eastern’s women’s volleyball team was selected as the team to beat in the Freedom Conference coaches’ preseason poll. If this prediction proves true, Eastern will be Freedom Conference champions for the 7th year in a row. That is certainly an accomplishment to be proud of. Another reason to be optimistic is that they are also currently ranked 15th in the nation.

Eastern also has three returning players who were recognized as All-Americans last season: Senior Katrina Pisch, junior Rikki Schlager and sophmore Rylie Haas. Eastern has also gained three new players, as Freshman Miranda Kauffman, and Morgan Shemonski and junior Kara Tecl will be joining the volleyball team this season.

The season begins with a tournament at Gettysburg where they will play four games. Then the Eagles will have 17 tough away match-ups. During these 17 away matches, Eastern will play against four teams who are also ranked inside the top 25 in the nation, including Emory, who is ranked 2nd in the nation, 11th-ranked Washington University, in St. Louis, 12th-ranked Elmhurst, and 25th-ranked Christopher Newport. This will all be before their first home game on September 23rd against King’s College.

Games are not won on paper, but this season has all the makings of a season to remember for the Eastern Eagles’ women’s volleyball team. This could include a conference championship and possibly an NCAA Tournament run if all goes well. Eastern will be looking to go to the final four for the second time in four years. The last time that happened came in 2011. In 2012 they went to the regional finals, and last year they fell just short of the final four, making it all the way to the elite eight.