Women's Volleyball Picked to Finish Seventh

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Seven-time Commonwealth Coast Conference women's volleyball champion Roger Williams University has been picked to capture the 2016 CCC title. The reigning champions brought in eight of a possible 10 first place votes on the ballot and garnered 98 points.

The poll was completed by the league's 10 head women's volleyball coaches.

Endicott placed second in this year's poll collecting 84 points and a first place vote. The Gulls narrowly edged out Gordon, last year's CCC runner-up, as the Fighting Scots earned 83 points and the last remaining first place vote.

Salve Regina and Western New England were also separated by just one point as the Seahawks placed fourth with 63 points and the Golden Bears took the fifth slot with 62.

The University of New England (54 points), Wentworth (37), Curry (31), Eastern Nazarene (22), and first-year varsity program Nichols (16) rounded out the ledger.

Coming off its third straight season with 10 or more wins, the Wentworth women's volleyball team looks to improve upon last year's standing and make a run at its first Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament berth since the 2012 campaign. The Leopards return nine letterwinners from last season's squad, including the lone senior on the squad, Stephanie Nihan (Dracut, Mass.). Nihan recorded 88 kills and 21 blocks during her junior season. Sophomore Lillie Clark (Vista, Calif.) returns after posting the third-highest dig total in a single season in program history (395) and was also second on the team with 46 service aces during her rookie campaign. Junior Katelyn Carlson (Stratford, Conn.) led the team a season ago with 48 aces, was second in assists (209), and third in digs (162).

The first volleyball matches for CCC teams are on Thursday, Sept. 1 as the University of New England and Western New England each take on non-conference opponents, while Wentworth opens the season a day later at the Scranton Invitational. Conference play gets underway later that month on Wednesday, Sept. 21. With the addition of Nichols to the CCC volleyball pool, the Conference Tournament draw increases with the top eight teams in Conference play earning berths. The tournament begins Tuesday, Nov. 1 with the quarterfinal round and concludes on Saturday, Nov. 5 with the Championship match.