Lock Haven's Christie Naumann (left) and California's Ludmila Amaral (right).
Lock Haven, Pa. - Two-time defending PSAC West and tournament champion California (Pa.) has been picked to repeat in the Western Division while Lock Haven, which won the PSAC East in its first year in the Eastern Division last year, has been chosen as the favorite in the East in the PSAC preseason volleyball coaches’ poll.
This marks the second straight year that California has been picked as the favorite in the Western Division. In addition to winning the PSAC West and the PSAC tournament in each of the past two seasons, the Vulcans have also advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight the last two years. The Vulcans are a unanimous pick to win the West this year after receiving six of seven first place votes in last year’s poll. Lock Haven is the favorite in the PSAC East for the first time after being voted a close second last year, their first year in the PSAC East. The Lady Eagles were the favorite in the PSAC West in 2007, their final year in the West. Lock Haven received six of seven first place votes.
In the East, Lock Haven was followed in second place by West Chester, which received the other first place vote. Shippensburg was third and was followed by Kutztown, East Stroudsburg, Millersville and Cheyney. In the West, Cal was followed in second place by Edinboro, which was a unanimous pick for second place. Clarion and Mercyhurst tied for third place while Gannon and Slippery Rock tied for fifth and IUP rounded out the poll.
The PSAC had five teams qualify for the NCAA tournament last year, one year after the league qualified six for the 2007 tournament. In addition to national quarterfinalist California, Edinboro, Lock Haven, Mercyhurst and Slippery Rock each played in the NCAA tournament last year.
The Vulcans are coming off a season in which they went 40-2. They were the lone program in the country to record 40 wins last year and they finished with the second-highest winning percentage in the country, behind only national champion Concordia-St. Paul. They return their top two hitters in senior middle hitter Ludmila Amaral and senior outside hiter Joanna Nist, who combined for over 1,000 kills last year and over 7.00 kills per game. Amaral, last year’s PSAC West Player of the Year, hit .424 on the year, and is the leading returning hitter in the PSAC this year after finishing second in that category last year. Also an All-American last year, Amaral led the PSAC in overall kills well, the only player in the league with over 500 kills. Overall, the Vulcans return five of their top six hitters, including setter Renata da Silva, whose 1509 overall assists and 10.78 assists per game were by far tops in the league last year.
Lock Haven, which like Cal went undefeated in its respective divisional play last year, will need to replace All-American and PSAC East Player of the Year Stacy Borgia, who capped off her steller career last year by leading the PSAC in kills per game and hitting percentage. The Lady Eagles lost two of their top three hitters from last year, as Juliana Nascimento also departed but they do have two first team All-PSAC East honorees returning in senior outside hitter Christie Naumann, who led the PSAC last year in service aces, and junior setter Fabiana Gomez, who was second in the PSAC last year in assists per game with 10.39, as she and Silva were the only two setters in the league to average over 10 assists per game. Also returning is last year’s PSAC East Freshman of the Year, Haley Gribler.
Listed below are the preseason PSAC volleyball coaches polls. First place votes are in parenthesis.
Eastern Division
1. Lock Haven (6)
2. West Chester (1)
3. Shippensburg
4. Kutztown
5. East Stroudsburg
6. Millersville
7. Cheyney
Western Division
1. California (7)
2. Edinboro
T3. Clarion
T3. Mercyhurst
T5. Gannon
T5. Slippery Rock
7. IUP