COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference announced the 2023 RMAC Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll Tuesday afternoon and the University of Colorado Colorado Springs volleyball team is ranked seventh overall. The Mountain Lions received 114 points in the 15-team poll.
Back-to-back conference champions Metropolitan State University of Denver are the RMAC preseason favorites, receiving 13 first-place votes and 195 points. Regis University (181 points), Colorado Mesa University (169 points) and Colorado School of Mines (158 points) round out the top four spots, respectively. The RMAC Preseason Volleyball Poll is voted on by the league's 15 volleyball head coaches. Coaches are not permitted to vote for their own team.
The Mountain Lions posted a 13-13 overall record in 2022 and won three of their last four matches to finish in a tie for seventh place in the league standings with South Dakota Mines and Fort Lewis College, owning an 8-10 RMAC record.
Second year head coach
Tara Hittle returns eight letterwinners from last season –
Joei Barela,
Nicole Medlin,
Rylie Hahn,
Raegen Emery,
Mackenzie Ransom,
Lauryn Shockley,
Julia Geiger and
Clara Benskin. Medlin and Geiger highlight the returning starters as the only two to have started all 26 matches. New to the program in 2023 are
Avery Ahlers,
Isabel Hudspeth,
Maylen Mitrovich and
Sydnee Walker.
UCCS will begin the 2023 campaign in California at the Concordia University-Irvine Golden Eagle Invitational Sept. 1-2. The Mountain Lions will take on California State University East Bay and Azusa Pacific University on Friday, Sept. 1, before facing California State University Dominguez Hills and host school Concordia on day two of the invitational. UCCS will open their open season the following week with a 12-match invitational on Sept. 7-9.
2023 RMAC Volleyball Preseason Poll
| School (First-place votes) |
Points |
| 1. MSU Denver (13) |
195 |
| 2. Regis (1) |
181 |
| 3. Colorado Mesa (1) |
169 |
| 4. Colorado School of Mines |
158 |
| 5. CSU Pueblo |
147 |
| 6. Colorado Christian |
127 |
| 7. UCCS |
114 |
| 8. South Dakota Mines |
100 |
| 9. Fort Lewis |
93 |
| 10. Adams State |
65 |
| 11. Chadron State |
63 |
| 12. Westminster |
45 |
| 13. New Mexico Highlands |
42 |
| 14. Black Hills State |
39 |
| 15. Western Colorado |
37 |
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