By Jami Sponaugle
Chicago, Ill. - On August 29th, the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) released the women's volleyball preseason poll for the upcoming 2023 season. In the poll, the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks found themselves in sixth place, receiving 240 points. Sitting at the top of the poll is Aurora University who received 389 points and 25 first-place votes.
During the 2022 season, the Hawks finished with a 18-12 overall record, and a 8-5 NACC conference record. Illinois Tech looks to make a deeper run in the NACC tournament after falling to Concordia University Wisconsin 3-0 last season in the semi-finals.
“With only one starter not returning from last year’s NACC semi final qualifying team, women’s volleyball is geared up and ready for a great 2022 season.” head coach Mark Johnston expressed. Johnston went on to say: “We are loving our schedule and will definitely be battle-tested by the time October comes around.” The Hawks kick off their season on September 2nd when they head to Lake Forest College to take part in the Forester Invitational. The team then heads out to Colorado to compete in the Colorado College Invitational before beginning a three game home stand, kicking it off against conference competitor Concordia Chicago. Johnson closed out his statement: “I believe we are going to be much better prepared for the end of the season this year and that’s when it counts the most. We made it to the final 4 teams in our conference tournament last year and the goal is to do better than that.”
For the 2022 season, the Hawks return 13 players, including 5 seniors, 4 juniors, and 4 sophomores. “We are returning our lone all-conference nominee (NACC First Team) Briar Moore this year. Briar really held the team together last year and is the true definition of a “volleyball player”. She can do a little bit of everything out there and has one of the most wide-range skill sets I’ve ever coached.” said Johnston. Moore ended last season with a 3.01 kills per set after recording 304 kills. She also added 317 digs for the Hawks and 17 block assists. The Hawks also bring in four first-year players to complete the roster.
Illinois Tech is set to begin their season on Friday, September 2nd when they head to Lake Forest College to compete in the Forester Invitational. The Hawks are set to take on the Elmhurst University Bluejays at 8:00 p.m. On Saturday, September 3rd the Hawks continue play in the Forester Invitational and will face the Augustana College Vikings at 11:00 a.m. and Trine University Thunder at 3:00 p.m.