Four-Time Reigning Champion UNH Tabbed #AEVB Favorites
BOSTON - After becoming the first America East volleyball team to ever win four-straight conference titles last season, the New Hampshire Wildcats have been selected as the favorites again in the 2017 preseason coaches' poll, the conference office announced Thursday. The voting was conducted by the conference’s seven head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own teams.
New Hampshire, which has won four-straight regular-season titles in addition to its four-consecutive conference crowns, received 34 points and five first-place votes, edging out second-place Albany, which has fallen to UNH in the league's championship match each of the last three years. The Great Danes picked up a pair of first-place votes and 31 points. Here is the full poll:
2017 #AEVB Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. New Hampshire 34 (5)
2. Albany 31 (2)
3. Binghamton 27
4. UMBC 22
5. Stony Brook 16
6. Hartford 9
7. UMass Lowell 8
The 2017 volleyball season begins on Friday, Aug. 25 with all seven teams in action. The 84-match conference schedule begins Sept. 22 and wraps up on Nov. 12. The top four teams in the conference standings will qualify for the America East Championship, which takes place Friday, Nov. 17 and Saturday, Nov. 18 or Saturday, Nov. 18 and Sunday, Nov. 19 at the No. 1 seed.