Pollweek: Sacred Heart Tops Pack As Parity Reigns in NEC Women’S Volleyball Preseason Poll

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For Immediate Release August 15, 2019

#PollWeek: Sacred Heart Tops Pack As Parity Reigns In NEC Women’s Volleyball Preseason Poll

Somerset, NJ -- For the first time since 2012, Sacred Heart will enter the Northeast Conference (NEC) women’s volleyball season as the coaches’ pick to win it all. 2019 NEC Women’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches Poll The Pioneers emerged as the top choice in a close vote that saw four teams collect first place votes. SHU received four first place tallies, with one for runner-up Long Island 1. Sacred Heart (4) University and two apiece for Central Connecticut and Bryant, which were selected 2. LIU (1) third and fourth, respectively. 3. Central Connecticut (2) 4. Bryant (2) Sacred Heart is coming off of a season in which it entered the NEC Tournament as 5. Robert Morris the #4 seed and swept past top-seeded LIU in Brooklyn to advance to the final for the 6. St. Francis Brooklyn second time in three years. 7. Saint Francis U 8. Fairleigh Dickinson In search of their first tournament title since 2011, 13th-year head coach Rob Machen 9. Merrimack and the Pioneers return six of the nine players who took to the court for last year’s title First place votes in parentheses match, including the reigning NEC Rookie and Setter of the Year, Sarah Ciszek (San Juan Capistrano, CA/Santa Margarita Catholic). The first team all-conference selection led the league in assists per set (9.41) and hitting percentage (.347).

Returning alongside Ciszek is redshirt senior outside hitter Liisel Nelis (Kuressaare, Estonia/Audentes Sports Gymnasium). Nelis paced the league last year with 3.83 kills per game and earned first team All-NEC honors. The Pioneers also bring back sophomores Alix Polk (Orlando, FL/Olympia) and Emma Smallcomb (Westborough, MA/Westborough). Polk led SHU and ranked third in the NEC with 0.39 service aces per game, while Smallcomb served as the Pioneer libero, placing sixth in the league with 3.98 digs per set. Sacred Heart should also see the return of redshirt senior Makayla Dole (Cypress, CA/Western), who appeared in two matches last year before suffering a season-ending injury. A two-time All-NEC performer, Dole led the league with 404 kills in 2017.

The 11-time NEC tournament champion LIU Sharks have captured seven out of the last eight regular season titles and are circling the waters, looking to make another run in 2019 under fifth-year head coach Ken Ko.

Reigning NEC Defensive Player of the Year and All-NEC first teamer Natalia Rivera (Cayey, Puerto Rico/Radians School) leads the list of LIU returnees. Rivera, the 2017 NEC Tournament MVP, paced the league last year and finished 20th in the

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Bryant University • Central Connecticut State University • Fairleigh Dickinson University • Long Island University Merrimack College • Mount St. Mary’s University • Robert Morris University • Sacred Heart University St. Francis Brooklyn • Saint Francis University • Wagner College nation with 5.43 digs per set. Rivera is set to be joined by senior setter Amanda Hubbard (Hillsborough, CA/Saint Francis), who finished seventh in the conference with 6.27 assists per set.

Central Connecticut and 20th-year head coach Linda Sagnelli return eight of the players that took eventual NEC champion Bryant to five sets in last year’s conference semis and bring back reigning NEC Player of the Year and all-around workhorse Madelyn Kaprelyan (Huntington Beach, CA/Huntington Beach). The senior opposite ranked second in the NCAA last season with five triple-doubles to her credit, and ranked top-five in the league in hitting percentage (.293, third) and kills per set (3.24, fifth).

All-Conference second team standouts Gala Galabova (Dragor, Bulgaria/Vasil Levski) and Emma Henderson (Prairie Vil- lage, KS/Shawnee Mission East) also return for the Blue Devils. Galabova, a senior outside hitter, paced the NEC and ranked 37th nationally with 1.27 blocks per set, while Henderson, a junior outside hitter, ranked second on the circuit with 0.47 service aces per game.

Bryant reached new heights a year ago under 23rd-year head coach Theresa Garlacy by capturing the program’s first NEC Tournament championship and recording a DI program record 22 wins in the process. While the Bulldogs graduated the most accomplished senior class in its DI history, they come back with a pair of All-Conference honorees along with seven players who competed in at least 50 sets.

Junior Erika Ward (Rochester, MI/Stoney Creek) served as the Bulldogs’ primary libero and last year became the first player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs as a sophomore. Ward was named a second team All-NEC selection and landed on the NEC All-Tournament team after a career-high 32 dig performance against CCSU in the NEC Tournament semifinals. She ranked fourth on the circuit with 4.31 digs per game on the year. Caroline Kennedy (San Juan Capistrano, CA/JSerra Catho- lic) burst onto the scene last year as a freshman, setting a Bryant DI record for kills in a single season with 409 while ranking sixth in the NEC with 2.97 per game. It was Kennedy’s kill on championship point that secured the title for the Bulldogs in their three-set win over Sacred Heart in the NEC final.

Robert Morris, which missed out on the postseason last year for just the second time in the last two decades, was picked to finish fifth, while last year’s biggest surprise, St. Francis Brooklyn, landed at sixth in the poll. The Terriers were picked to finish last in 2018, but defied expectations with a fifth place finish. Now under the direction of first year head coach Amable Martinez, the Terriers will look to push for their first NEC Tournament berth since 1997.

Rounding out the preseason poll were Saint Francis U in seventh, followed in order by Fairleigh Dickinson and the NEC’s new- est program, Merrimack. Merrimack opens its first DI season on September 4 at Providence. The Warriors will play a full NEC schedule and count in the standings, but are ineligible for the postseason as they complete a four-year reclassification.

The nine NEC squads will contest a 16-game, double-round robin league schedule, with the top-four finishers in the conference standings advancing to the postseason. The 2019 NEC Tournament will take place November 22-23 at the home of the top seed.

About The Northeast Conference Now entering its 39th year, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 11 institutions of higher learning located throughout seven states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to four of the largest markets in the United States - New York (#1), Boston (#9), Pittsburgh (#24), Baltimore (#26), and Hartford/New Haven (#33). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 22 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 15 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Bryant, Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU Brooklyn, Merrimack, Mount St. Mary’s, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website (www. northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat, all @NECsports.

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