LOCK HAVEN, Pa.- The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) released its women's volleyball preseason coaches poll on Thursday afternoon and West Chester was picked to finish third in the PSAC East with one first-place vote.
Reigning PSAC East Champion East Stroudsburg claimed the top spot in the poll with four first-place votes followed by Shepherd in second with three first-place votes of its own. West Chester occupied the third spot followed by Shippensburg and Bloomsburg to round out the top-five. Millersville took sixth in the preseason rankings followed by Kutztown in seventh and Lock Haven in eighth to round out the PSAC East.
In the PSAC West, Clarion grabbed the top spot in the poll with five first-place votes followed by 2021 National Semifinalist Gannon with three first-place votes in second and Edinboro with the remaining one vote rounding out the top three.
In the fall 2021 season, West Chester played to a record of 22-8 overall and 10-4 in league play, returning to the PSAC Tournament for the first time since the end of the 2017 season. West Chester entered as the third seed and fell to No. 2 seed Shepherd in a hard-fought match to bring the Golden Rams historic season to a close. During the Golden Rams impressive 22-win season (which was the most single-season wins since the Purple and Gold won 24 matches in 2017), the team won 17-of-19 matches (a nine-match win streak followed by an eight-match winning streak) and had three All-Conference honorees for the first time since the end of the 2018 season.
Jamie Byrne (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) and
Julia Vreeswyk (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) each earned First Team honors, while
Olivia Rudjord (Fogelsville, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) collected Second Team honors. Byrne and Vreeswyk were the team's first First Team honorees since the 2017 season when
Jillian Grammer (Center Valley, Pa./Southern Lehigh) accomplished the feat, and it was the first time since the 2009 season that the Golden Rams celebrated two First Team All-Conference honorees in the same season.
West Chester opens its 2022 season at home on Friday, August 26
th hosting its Annual Ram Fest Tournament beginning with a matchup against Goldey Beacom at 2 p.m. inside Hollinger Field House.
