United Athletic Conference

 

The WAC volleyball coaches selected NM State to win the WAC regular-season crown this spring. Coming off back-to-back WAC Tournament Championships, the Aggies received eight of the nine first-place votes and 64 total points to earn the top spot in the poll. Grand Canyon earned the remaining first-place vote to finish in second place with 55 points, followed by UT Rio Grande Valley which slid into third with 48 points. California Baptist picked up 42 points as they were selected fourth while UT Rio Grande Valley finished closely behind with 40 points to claim fifth. Dixie State, Tarleton and Seattle U each collected 21 points to form a three-way tie for sixth while Chicago State rounded out the poll with 12 points.

 

NM State and Grand Canyon had the most players named to the preseason All-WAC team as both squads garnered three spots. Joining NM State's Savannah Davison on the preseason team are fellow Aggies Julianna Salanoa and Lia Mosher, Grand Canyon's Kaira Moss, Klaire Mitchell and Annabelle Kubinski, Utah Valley's Kazna Tarawhiti and Seren Jardine, UT Rio Grande Valley's Sarah Cruz and Samaret Caraballo, California Baptist's Sydney Marks and Christine Graf and Seattle U's Eve Kerschenbaum and Tijana Milojevic.

 

Four of the nine schools return at least four starters from last year for the spring 2021 campaign. Seattle U and UT Rio Grande Valley return six starters apiece, while Dixie State and Grand Canyon return five each. The following is a breakdown of each team's letterwinners returning and lost and starters returning and lost.

 

Team	SR	SL	LR	LL
California Baptist	2	5	8	6
Chicago State	1	6	3	13
Dixie State	5	2	9	10
Grand Canyon	5	2	9	7
NM State	4	3	10	14
Seattle U	6	1	12	3
Tarleton	3	4	9	9
UT Rio Grande Valley	6	1	8	6
Utah Valley	2	5	9	7

 

The Spring 2021 WAC Volleyball Tournament will be held April 1-3 at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M. and will include all six eligible teams.

 

In hitting efficiency, three of the top 10 hitters are back, including the top hitter from a season ago ­­– Grand Canyon's Annabelle Kubinski (.394). The other two returning are NM State's Julianna Salanoa (.355) and GCU's Kaira Moss (.340) who finished third and fourth, respectively, last year.

 

Five of the top 10 kill leaders return, including last year's leader, Utah Valley's Kazna Tarawhiti, who averaged 3.81 kills per set, followed by NM State's Savannah Davison in third (3.56). Seattle U's Eve Kerschenbaum ranked fourth with 3.45, followed by UT Rio Grande Valley's Sarah Cruz (3.13, seventh) and Grand Canyon's Yeny Murillo (2.89, eighth).

 

Four of the top assist leaders from last season return, led by Grand Canyon's Klaire Mitchell, who finished second last year with 9.60 assists per set. She is followed by UT Rio Grande Valley's Debora Nazario, who ranked third in the WAC with 9.38 assists per set. Also returning is Seattle U's Ezgi Ozkan (9.15, fourth) and NM State's Natalie Mikels (5.97, sixth).

 

Seven of the top 10 servers return as NM State's Mikels in second place with 0.37 aces per set. UT Rio Grande Valley's Samaret Caraballo was third with 0.37, followed by Seattle U's Tijana Milojevic in fifth with 0.35. UTRGV's Sarah Cruz was sixth (0.35), Seattle U's Kerschenbaum was seventh (0.34), California Baptist's Paige Johnstone was eighth (0.34) and GCU's Kayla Matthews rounded out the group as she was tied for ninth (0.33).

 

Four of the top blockers return, paced by NM State's Salanoa, who last year finished second in the WAC with 1.39 blocks per set, followed by Seattle U's Julia Queiroz in third (1.14). Grand Canyon's Moss also returns after finishing fourth (1.12) followed by UT Rio Grande Valley's Veronika Jandova in tenth (0.92)

 

Just two of the top 10 dig leaders return with UT Rio Grande Valley's Caraballo leading the way after averaging 4.29 digs per set to finish second in the WAC last year. Seattle U's Milojevic also returns as she finished fifth with 4.09.

 

Four of the top 10 point leaders from a year ago return, led by Tarawhiti of Utah Valley with 4.34 points per set, ranking second. NM State's Davison ranked third with 4.09 points per set. The other returning point leaders are Seattle U's Kerschenbaum (3.92, fourth) and UT Rio Grande Valley's Cruz (3.75, sixth).

 

Of the seven First Team All-WAC players in 2019, four return for the season – spring 2021 Preseason Player of the Year Savannah Davison of NM State and teammate Julianna Salanoa along with Utah Valley's Kazna Tarawhiti and Grand Canyon's Kaira Moss.

 

Just two of the seven second team honorees return as GCU teammates Annabelle Kubinski and Klaire Mitchell are back.

 

Four of the six All-Freshman Team honorees from a year ago return – Grand Canyon teammates Hannah Eskes and Mitchell, California Baptist's Christine Graf and Victoire Nama of UT Rio Grande Valley. 

 

The NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship 48-team bracket will be announced Sunday, April 4. The bracket will consist of 32 automatic qualifiers and 16 at-large teams. The final site of the 2020 NCAA Championship will be the CHI Health Center Omaha in Omaha, Neb. Semifinals will be held April 22 while the championship will be held on April 24.