• Official MEC Press Release

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. – The Mountain East Conference (MEC) league offices released its annual volleyball preseason poll on Thursday afternoon. The West Virginia State University volleyball team was voted to finish first in the South Division after the Yellow Jackets challenged for a conference championship last season.

West Virginia State was crowned MEC South Division Champions in each of the past two seasons. WVSU won an astonishing 30 games in 2021 and made it to the finals of the MEC Tournament. State then went on to make its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2008 and advance to the Round of 32 for the first time in school history.

MEC Coach of the Year Kris Kern returns for his sixth season at West Virginia State in 2022. His coaching record at WVSU stands at 100-48 overall and 52-22 in league play going into the upcoming campaign. Kern's winning percentage rose to an impressive .676 after last year's run while he can now lay claim to winning 70 percent of in-conference contests.

First Team All-MEC and Second Team All-Atlantic Region honoree Grace Martin returns for a fifth year to lead the Yellow Jackets in 2022. She ranked in the top five in NCAA Division II in total blocks and blocks per set a season ago. All-MEC Honorable Mention Kiersten Eggleton also returns for her junior campaign after she led the Yellow Jackets in assists.

Libero Alex Darby will also be back for her junior year after she led West Virginia State in digs. Rounding out the spectacular group of returning juniors is middle hitter Natalie Beer. Beer recorded 155 kills and 113 blocks during her sophomore season. The only other Yellow Jacket to record over 100 kills and blocks last year was Grace Martin.

The two biggest losses to be felt by WVSU in 2022 will be the departures of outside hitters Jenna Dufresne and Gabrielle Bullock. Dufresne and Bullock have been the No. 1 and No. 2 kills leaders on the team in each of the past four seasons. 

A potential candidate to fill the gap this season will be NCAA Division I transfer Diamond'Nique Young. Young earned Second Team All-RMAC honors in her freshman season at Colorado State University-Pueblo. She racked up 222.5 points with 157 kills and 106 total blocks during the 2019 season.

West Virginia State was the clear favorite to win the South Division in this year's MEC Volleyball Preseason Poll with 68 points and eight first-place votes. Charleston was voted second in the South by the league's coaches with 55 points and three first-place votes. The Golden Eagles are expected to be much improved this season, but still have been unable to beat State in each of their last nine meetings.

Davis & Elkins was slated third in the South with 50 points and one first-place vote. The Senators typically provide the best competition for WVSU in the division. Concord (28 points), Glenville State (27 points), and West Virginia Wesleyan (23 points) were bunched up in the fourth through sixth slots of the preseason South Division rankings.

In the North Division, traditional powerhouse Wheeling topped the rankings with 65 points and 10 first-place votes. West Liberty was picked second with 51 points and the remaining two first-place votes. Trailing the Hilltoppers by a single point was Fairmont State (50 points) in third place.

Frostburg State (33 points) and Notre Dame College (31 points) were separated by two points in the fourth and fifth-place spots, respectively. Alderson Broaddus only received 16 points to sit at the bottom of the North Division preseason rankings.

The Yellow Jackets will officially begin their 2022 campaign on Friday, Aug. 26 with a trip to Georgia College. WVSU will compete in four invitational tournaments before the start of conference play in late September.