CMS Volleyball Earns No. 2 National Ranking in Preseason AVCA Poll

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team was ranked No. 2 in the nation in a preseason NCAA Division III poll released today by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

Only defending national champion Wisconsin-Eau Claire was ranked ahead of the Athenas, who are back in a familiar spot in the national poll by opening the year at No. 2. CMS also spent most of last season ranked No. 2 before reaching the NCAA Semifinals, where it fell in four sets to Calvin. In addition to the semifinal defeat, Calvin was also the only team to defeat the Athenas in a 31-2 regular season, and Calvin opens the year ranked No. 3, due to significant graduation losses. 

By contrast, CMS has only one major hole to fill with the graduation of All-American Melanie Williams on the right side, but has all of its other key players who finished the year returning. The Athenas did also lose senior starter Makenna Fall. who was injured midway through the 2021 season and was replaced by Dede Carranza at the libero spot in the second half of the year. All-American Jenna Holmes, SCIAC Newcomer of the Year Audrey Sawyer, honorable mention All-American setter Georgia McGovern and All-SCIAC outside hitter Jackie Jones all return with postseason accolades to lead the 2022 squad.

CMS moved up to the No. 2 position a year ago after defeating both the No. 1 (Trinity) and No. 2 (Emory) ranked teams in the country on the same day on Sept. 10. Johns Hopkins stayed in front of CMS the entire regular season, as both teams stayed undefeated until the Athenas suffered their late-season loss to Calvin.

Juniata opens the year ranked No. 4, with Trinity, Berry, NYU, Emory, Johns Hopkins and Hope rounding out the top 10. CMS will meet four of those teams in the regular season this year, including another day when it meets both Trinity and Emory (at the East-West Battle, which Emory hosts this year), after facing Johns Hopkins on Friday, Sept. 9.

Before that tournament, the Athenas will face NYU on Saturday, Sept. 3 at the Pacific Coast Classic at Roberts Pavilion. A matchup with No. 14 Colorado College will also take place at Cal Lutheran on Sept. 17, as CMS meets five top 15 teams in non-conference play before opening up its SCIAC slate on Sept. 20 at Whittier.