MILWAUKEE, Wis. (naccsports.org) --- Aurora University has been selected as a slim favorite to capture the 2024 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) women's volleyball crown, edging Edgewood College by a single point.
The Spartans received 374 points and 14 of a possible 28 first-place votes in the poll, which consists of rankings by each of the league's head coaches and head athletics communications professionals. The Eagles sit just one point back with 373 points on the strength of 12 first-place votes. St. Norbert College is third with 329 points, just ahead of Concordia University Wisconsin in fourth with 309 points and Lakeland University in fifth with 280 points. The Green Knights and Falcons split the final two first-place votes.
Benedictine University ranked sixth with 215 points followed by Marian University (209), Illinois Institute of Technology (195), Dominican University (175), and Wisconsin Lutheran College (157). Concordia Chicago (137), Milwaukee School of Engineering (99), Rockford University (60), and Alverno College (28) round out this year's poll.
Fall 2023 Recap: Aurora (21-11, 12-1 NACC) and Edgewood (23-11, 12-1 NACC) shared the regular-season title last season with the Eagles claiming the top seed in the NACC Tournament due to a five-set victory over Aurora in mid-October. Edgewood advanced to the final with wins over Illinois Tech (3-1) and Concordia Wisconsin (3-0), while the second-seeded Spartans were pushed to the limit in a five-set win over St. Norbert in the semifinals. In the championship match, the Eagles took the first two sets and looked well on their way to a straight-set victory, but Aurora rallied with wins in the third and fourth sets to force a fifth-and-deciding set where Edgewood emerged victorious by a 16-14 score.
Edgewood secured the NACC's automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Championship, falling to to No. 5 Northwestern-St. Paul, 3-0, in a first-round match.
New Coaches: There will be four new coaches in the NACC this fall. Noah Ray arrived at Marian in January to assume control over both the men's and women's programs for the Sabres after spending last fall as the head women's coach at Birmingham-Southern College. Prior to that, Ray served as an assistant coach for the men's volleyball program at Juniata College. He also served as a women's student assistant at Midway (Ky.) University and a graduate assistant for the women's program at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.
Olivia Kofie is the new head coach at Dominican. Kofie has extensive collegiate coaching experience, previously serving as an assistant coach at Chicago State University, North Central College, and Judson University. She also has club coaching experience in the Chicagoland with both Club Fusion and Sky High. A four-year starter at Western Michigan University as a player, Kofie has played internationally in Poland, Czech Republic, and Sweden.
MSOE elevated Kristina Susak to the head position after serving as an assistant coach during the 2023 season. Susak also has experience at the club and high school level in the Milwaukee area, serving as the head coach of I AM Volleyball Club and an assistant coach at Whitefish Bay High School since 2021.
The final change on the sidelines will be at Alverno. At this time, there are no details available regarding the new hire.
2024 Schedule: The 2024 schedule gets underway Friday, Aug. 30 with 21 matches involving 13 NACC schools. The final school slated to get underway is Alverno, which hosts Beloit College on Wednesday, Sept. 4.
The league slate begins on Friday, Sept. 6 for Dominican and St. Norbert, who have incorporated their conference matchup into the schedule of this year's SNC Chick-fil-A Invitational. The rest of the NACC begins league play the week of Sept. 16-20. Lakeland hosts Benedictine and Concordia Wisconsin entertains Rockford on Tuesday, Sept. 17, while Concordia Chicago travels to Wisconsin Lutheran and Aurora treks to Marian on Wednesday, Sept. 18. That week's final two league matches - Illinois Tech at MSOE and Edgewood at Alverno - are slated for Thursday, Sept. 19. The NACC slate concludes with seven matches scheduled for Nov. 6-7.
NACC Tournament: The top eight teams in the final regular-season standings will qualify for the league's postseason tournament. First-round games are slated for Tuesday, Nov. 12, followed by semifinals on Thursday, Nov. 14, and the tournament final on Saturday, Nov. 16. The tournament champion receives the NACC's automatic berth into the 2024 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship.
2024 NACC Women's Volleyball Preseason Poll
| Institution |
Points |
2023 Record |
| Aurora (14) |
374 |
21-11, 12-1 NACC |
| Edgewood (12) |
373 |
23-11, 12-1 NACC |
| St. Norbert (1) |
329 |
19-12, 10-3 NACC |
| Concordia Wisconsin (1) |
309 |
15-14, 9-4 NACC |
| Lakeland |
280 |
15-12, 9-4 NACC |
| Benedictine |
215 |
11-16, 7-6 NACC |
| Marian |
209 |
15-14, 7-6 NACC |
| Illinois Tech |
195 |
7-19, 6-7 NACC |
| Dominican |
175 |
13-13, 6-7 NACC |
| Wisconsin Lutheran |
157 |
9-17, 5-8 NACC |
| Concordia Chicago |
137 |
10-17, 4-9 NACC |
| MSOE |
99 |
9-18, 2-11 NACC |
| Rockford |
60 |
7-16, 2-11 NACC |
| Alverno |
28 |
2-23, 0-13 NACC |
Note: First-place votes in parentheses.