MILWAUKEE, Wis. (naccsports.org) --- Defending Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) champion Dominican University has been named the favorite to claim the 2025 title by a slim five-point margin over Aurora University in the annual NACC Men's Volleyball Preseason Poll released Monday.
The Stars totaled 324 points to the Spartans' 319 and held a 15-9 advantage in first-place votes from the voting body comprised of the league's head men's volleyball coaches and athletics communications professionals.
Benedictine University edged Milwaukee School of Engineering, 274-273, for third place with both the Eagles and Raiders securing one first-place vote.
Concordia University Wisconsin is solidly in fifth place with 227 points, while Illinois Institute of Technology (194), Marian University (174), and Edgewood College (158) are projected to round out the eight-team field for the 2025 NACC Tournament.
Concordia University Chicago edged Lakeland University, 119-116, for ninth place, while St. Norbert College (98), Wisconsin Lutheran College (53), and Rockford University (37) round out this year's preseason ranking.
2024 Review: Aurora and Dominican split the 2024 NACC title with matching 11-1 records in league play. The Stars secured the top seed in the tournament, dispatching Lakeland in straight sets in their tournament opener before surviving a five-set marathon with fourth-seeded MSOE in the semifinals. Second-seeded Aurora swept Marian and Illinois Tech to advance to the championship match. After splitting the first two sets by matching 25-22 scores, Dominican won both the third and fourth sets by two-point margins to win the program's fourth NACC Tournament title.
The Stars (19-8) advanced to the 2024 NCAA Division III Championship, falling to fourth-ranked and eventual national champion Cal Lutheran in four sets in an opening round match.
National Ranking: The AVCA Division III Preseason Poll will be released tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan. 7).
New Coaches: There are three new coaches in the NACC this season.
Mike Stevens takes the helm at Benedictine after spending the the last three seasons as an assistant at Carthage. During that span, Carthage posted a 60-17 record, reached the 2022 and 2023 NCAA tournaments, and won the 2022 NCAA title.
Marian alumnus
Blake Badtke assumes control of the program at his alma mater. He takes over after serving as an assistant at Fond du Lac High School since 2019. Badtke was a three-year member of the Sabre men's volleyball program and also spent time in the school's athletics communications office before being named assistant director of athletic enrollment last year.
Noah Salazar was hired in May 2024 to become the third head coach in Rockford men's volleyball history. A four-year member of the men's program at North Park University, he spent the 2023-2024 academic year as an assistant for the Vikings' men's and women's programs. With Salazar on staff, the 2023 North Park women's team posted a 25-7 mark and a perfect 8-0 mark in the CCIW. He also has coaching experience at both the club and youth levels, both in the Chicagoland area and his native Minnesota.
2025 Schedule: Four programs - Concordia Chicago, Lakeland, St. Norbert, and Wisconsin Lutheran - get their seasons underway this Friday (Jan. 10). Both Lakeland and St. Norbert will face perennial national power Carthage in Kenosha, while Concordia Chicago faces Thiel in a tournament at Wittenberg and Wisconsin Lutheran plays Mount Union and UC Santa Cruz in a tournament hosted by Cal Lutheran.
The nine remaining programs get underway between Jan. 16-24. Illinois Wesleyan will be the opening opponent for Concordia Wisconsin (Jan. 16), Rockford (Jan. 21), and Aurora (Jan. 23), while New York University will face Illinois Tech (Jan. 17) and Benedictine (Jan. 18) on consecutive nights. Dominican travels to UC Santa Cruz and Edgewood hosts Augustana (Ill.) on Jan. 16, while Marian hosts Simpson and UW-Stevens Point in a triangular on Jan. 18. MSOE is the final NACC program to start its season, traveling to suburban Cleveland to face Baldwin Wallace on Jan. 24.
Marian hosts St. Norbert on Jan. 30 to kick off the NACC schedule. Conference matches will be sprinkled through the month of February with the first full league weekend occurring on Friday-Sunday, Feb. 21-23 with seven matches - Wisconsin Lutheran at Rockford (Feb. 21), St. Norbert at Aurora, Concordia Wisconsin at Illinois Tech, Marian at Dominican, Edgewood at Benedictine, MSOE at Concordia Chicago (all Feb. 22), and Illinois Tech at Lakeland (Feb. 23).
The regular season concludes with a full slate of six NACC matches the weekend of Friday-Saturday, April 4-5.
2025 NACC Tournament: The top eight teams in the final regular-season standings will qualify for the 2025 NACC Men's Volleyball Tournament. Quarterfinal play will be held Tuesday, April 8, followed by semifinals on Thursday, April 10, and the championship match on Saturday, April 12. All matches will be held on campus sites.
The NACC Tournament champion will receive the league's automatic berth in the 2025 NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship.
2025 NACC Men's Volleyball Preseason Poll
| School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| Dominican (15) |
324 |
| Aurora (9) |
319 |
| Benedictine (1) |
274 |
| MSOE (1) |
273 |
| Concordia Wisconsin |
227 |
| Illinois Tech |
194 |
| Marian |
174 |
| Edgewood |
158 |
| Concordia Chicago |
119 |
| Lakeland |
116 |
| St. Norbert |
98 |
| Wisconsin Lutheran |
53 |
| Rockford |
37 |