COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University volleyball team received two first place votes and has been picked second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll, which was released on Tuesday.
The Mavericks also had a league co-leading three selections to the Preseason All-RMAC team, released in conjunction with the poll, in redshirt sophomore opposite
Kaitlyn Hall, senior outside hitter
Sadie Scoville and senior libero
Allison Waller.
The Mavs are coming off a 23-6 season and a second place finish in the RMAC standings with a 12-2 mark, and have a new head coach for the first time in 20 years in
Austin Albers, who was in the same role at CSU Pueblo for the previous six seasons. They also welcome 11 new faces, including six transfers and five freshman.
In the poll, the Mavs were named amongst the top three teams on all 14 possible ballots of the other head coaches from around the conference, who ranked their opposition 1-14 without voting for their own squad.
Defending champion MSU Denver received 13 first place votes and topped the poll with 194 points. The Mavs had 183 points while racking up 11 second place votes and a third place ranking in addition to their two first place votes.
Colorado Christian finished third in the poll with 162 points while South Dakota Mines received 154. CSU Pueblo (133), Regis (117), Westminster (105) and UCCS (104) were also picked in the top eight of the poll. Adams State and the Colorado School of Mines, which received a second and third place vote, were tied for ninth with 95 points, comfortably ahead of Fort Lewis (59), Western Colorado (57), Chadron State (55), New Mexico Highlands (37) and Black Hills State (25).
The Preseason All-RMAC squad is made up of the top 14 returning players from the voting for the league's 2024 All-RMAC Teams.
Hall was named as the RMAC Freshman of the Year and to the Second Team All-RMAC unit while at CSU Pueblo last year. She and Scoville, a First Team All-RMAC and Honorable Mention AVCA All-American, co-led the ThunderWolves with 248 kills last year. They are two of four transfers that followed Albers from CSU Pueblo after he was hired as the Mavs' head coach in February.
Waller was an Honorable Mention All-RMAC pick last season after earning RMAC Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-RMAC accolades for the Mavs in 2023. She will enter her senior season with 946 career digs.
The Mavericks took on Utah State-Eastern in a Monday afternoon scrimmage and will play at NCAA Division I Utah Valley in a Friday evening (6 p.m.) exhibition match in Orem, Utah. They will then host a public intrasquad scrimmage next Saturday (Aug. 30) at 2 p.m. in Brownson Arena before beginning the season with four matches at Angelo State's Kathleen Brasfield Invitational on Sept. 5-6 in San Angelo, Texas.
