Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball coaches have predicted UAA, runner-up at the NCAA Division II Championship last season, will win a third straight league title in the upcoming season.
Still, conference coaches in their annual preseason poll foresaw a tight battle for supremacy. They gave the Seawolves five of 11 first-place votes and 110 points, but two rivals were pegged as title threats too. Western Washington finished second in the poll with three first-place nods and 109 points, and Northwest Nazarene slotted third with three first-place votes and 106 points.
UAF, which last season finished tied for 10th on the 11-team circuit, finished 10th in the poll.
The Seawolves last season went 34-3, won the West Region and advanced to the Elite Eight before falling to Concordia-St. Paul of Minnesota in the championship match.
UAA lost All-America setter Morgan Hooe, the school's Athlete of the Year, and all-conference middle blocker Erin Braun. Yet Leah Swiss and Christalyn Johnson, a pair of explosive junior outside hitters, return. Swiss last season earned All-American and All-GNAC first-team honors after delivering 3.56 kills per set and a .242 hitting percentage.
The Seawolves, ranked No. 4 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association's Preseason Top 25 poll, entertain their alumni Friday at 7 p.m. at the Alaska Airlines Center. UAA opens the season with four matches Sept. 1-2 at the Point Loma Invitational in San Diego, California.