Coming off a strong season and exciting postseason run in 2014, Southern Nazarene has grabbed the attention of the Great American Conference volleyball coaches.
The Crimson Storm are ranked third in the 2015 GAC preseason coaches’ poll.
SNU went 22-10 last season and swept the first two opponents in the GAC Tournament before falling to Arkansas Tech in a thrilling five-set match.
Head coach Kevin Ingram spoke about what his team’s placement in the poll means.
Courtesy GAC Graphics.
“Preseason rankings, I guess they give you something to shoot for,” Ingram said. “In our sense, we were right there at the top last year and we have a chance to win it. It probably gives us a little bit of motivation being picked third, but regardless, we’ve got to go out and compete every night let everybody see exactly who you are.
“It’s a long season ahead of us. We won’t worry too much about the rankings, but it is nice to see that our peers did rank us up near the top.”
ATU is not surprisingly at the top of this year’s poll again and earned 11 of the 12 first place votes. Harding took the other first place nod and is picked to finish second.
Oklahoma Baptist won’t be sneaking up on anyone in its first season of GAC scheduling. The coaches apparently know the Lady Bison can play volleyball, voting them fourth in the preseason.
OBU finished second in the Sooner Athletic Conference in 2014, following four straight SAC regular season titles.
Southeastern picked up its first postseason win in program history last season and was picked to finish in the league this year.
Northwestern debuts its third head coach in its four-year history since its revival. Fredrick Wagner’s squad was picked to finish seventh.
The coaches thought that Southwestern and East Central, at No. 9 and No. 10 respectively in the poll, will come up just short of the GAC postseason.
