Metropolitan State University of Denver leads the 2022 RMAC Volleyball Preseason Coaches Poll with 10 first-place votes and 192 points. Joining the Roadrunners with first-place votes is Colorado Mesa, Colorado School of Mines, Regis and Colorado State University of Pueblo. The RMAC Volleyball Preseason Poll is voted on by the league’s 15 head coaches. Coaches are not permitted to vote for their program.
The Roadrunners lead the way in preseason voting after closing the 2021 campaign with a 28-4 overall record and a flawless 18-0 run through RMAC regular-season play. MSU Denver’s regular-season championship was one of the team’s many accolades last season, as they also spent five weeks ranked No. 1 in the AVCA Division II Top-25 poll before closing the year at No. 3. Reigning RMAC Player of the Year Rylee Hladky returns for the Roadrunners after stamping a conference-best 513 points and 428 kills last season. MSU Denver returns a trio of all-conference honorees in Hladky, Ember Canty and Ashlyn Cianciulli ahead of the 2022 season. Head coach Jenny Glenn leads a salty program into the season after earning RMAC and AVCA South Central Region Coach of the Year distinctions.
Colorado Mesa University and Colorado School of Mines are tied for second place with 172 points each in preseason voting. The Mavericks receive a pair of first-place votes and return a strong veteran group that paced the team to a 21-7 overall record last season. Sabrina VanDeList will step onto the court as the Mavs’ setter after dealing out 1,126 assists during her redshirt freshman campaign. VanDeList will look for reigning RMAC Freshman of the Year Sydney Leffler at the net as Leffler led Colorado Mesa with 340 kills last season. Tye Wedhorn also returns for the Mavericks after claiming 89 blocks and 2.3 kills per set in her redshirt-junior campaign.
Colorado School of Mines embarks on the 2022 season with one first-place vote, led by Drew Stokes who returns for her fifth season. Stokes closed 2021 with a conference-leading 1,224 assists for an average of 11.84 assists per set. Mines closed the year with a 26-4 overall record and an RMAC Tournament championship, which led to an automatic qualification into the NCAA Tournament.
Regis secures the fourth-place spot with 162 points and one first-place vote after closing last season with a 20-8 overall record. The Rangers lost just three conference matches all season before earning the No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Mara LeGrand returns for her senior season after earning All-America Honorable Mention honors as a setter for the Rangers.
CSU Pueblo ranks fifth in preseason voting with 150 points and the league’s final first-place vote after earning the program’s third NCAA postseason appearance, its first since the 1997 season. Hannah Delor and Jazzy Espinoza return for the Pack after combining for 431 kills last year.
Colorado Christian checks in at sixth place with 121 points, followed by Adams State with 97 points. University of Colorado Colorado Springs sits eighth overall with 89 points, while South Dakota Mines and Western Colorado are tied for ninth place with 81 points each.
Fort Lewis and New Mexico Highlands are locked up at 11th place with 72 points apiece, just ahead of Black Hills State, which closed preseason voting with 49 points. Rounding out the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll is Chadron State in 14th place with 37 points and Westminster with 28 points.