Complete CCIW Preseason Volleyball Coaches' Poll

2010 Illinois Wesleyan Volleyball Schedule

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The 2010 Illinois Wesleyan volleyball team has been picked to finish third in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin in the annual preseason coaches' poll released on August 4.

Illinois Wesleyan, who finished 19-16 overall and 5-2 (third place) in the CCIW in 2009, received 35 points to finish in the poll behind Carthage (unanimous with 49 points and seven first place votes) and North Central (35-5, 6-1 in 2009) with 42 points and one first place vote.

Carthage won its sixth straight league title in 2009 with a 33-6 record and has won a record 44 straight regular season conference victories. The Lady Reds have won the last five outright conference titles while sharing a title with Elmhurst in 2004.

Elmhurst (17-17, 4-3) was fourth with 33 points and Millikin (19-20, 2-5) placed fifth with 22 points, followed by Wheaton (17-16, 2-5) with 20 points, Augustana (11-21, 2-5) with 16 points and North Park (9-19, 0-7) with seven points.

Voting in the preseason poll is done by the head volleyball coaches in the CCIW. Each coach votes for the seven other schools in the conference in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (seven points for first, six for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own team.

The Titans have an exhibition game at Illinois Central College on Sept. 1 and open their season on Friday, September 3 at the Molten Pikes Peak Challenge in Colorado Springs, Colo., with matches against Carleton and Otterbein.

Three returning players earned all-conference honors last season, including junior Gaby Johnson (second team) and senior Lori Johnson and junior Stacy Hassinger (honorable mention).
Gaby Johnson was fifth in the CCIW with nine service aces while Hassinger was second in the conference with 9.4 assists per set and Lori Johnson was second among all CCIW players with 1.04 blocks per set.