UAA’s Bethany Tuchardt goes up for an attack against UAF. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
The 10 coaches in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference agree the Seawolves and Nanooks will be better volleyball teams than they were a year ago.
However, they don’t agree who’s the top team in the NCAA Division II league.
Central Washington, Seattle Pacific and Simon Fraser each received multiple first-place votes in the GNAC coaches’ poll and the team that got the most first-place votes did not garner the top spot.
For the second season in a row, Central Washington is the preseason favorite after edging Seattle Pacific by a single point in one of the tightest polls in GNAC history.
The Wildcats garnered 91 points including a pair of first-place votes, one more than reigning GNAC champion Seattle Pacific, which claimed the most first-place votes with six.
Border rivals Western Washington (75) and Simon Fraser (74) are picked third and fourth.
UAA was fifth (59), followed by UAF (49) in sixth. In 2023, the Seawolves finished sixth in the GNAC while the Nanooks were seventh.
GNAC Preseason Poll
| 91 | Central Washington (2) |
| 90 | Seattle Pacific (6) |
| 75 | Western Washington |
| 74 | Simon Fraser (2) |
| 59 | UAA |
| 49 | UAF |
| 38 | Northwest Nazarene |
| 33 | Western Oregon |
| 29 | Saint Martin’s |
| 12 | MSU-Billings |
The Seawolves return nine players, including three redshirt players, from last season’s 16-17 squad that won four of the final six matches to finish the regular season on a high note.
Second-year UAA coach Stacie Meisner added six newcomers – four true freshmen and two transfers, including last year’s Gatorade Alaska Player of the year Emma Beck of Kenai. Other Alaskans for the Seawolves include former Dimond teammates Kadyn Osborne and Larssen Anderson along with Avery Northcutt from East and Reilly McCue of Ketchikan.
The Seawolves make their season debut with an exhibition match against the UAA Alumni on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Alaska Airlines Center. Admission and parking are free.
The regular season kicks off Aug. 29-30 with three matches in Honolulu.
UAF includes three Alaskans – all from North Pole – in Ainsley Smith, Kinley Erickson and McKenna Smith.
The Nanooks will also tip off the season in Hawaii with matches against Chaminade, Hilo and HPU on Aug. 29-31.
The other Alaskan in the league is Simon Fraser’s Brooke Dexter of Anchorage. The former West star ranked tenth in the GNAC last season in kills (2.67) and 11th in hitting percentage (.269).
