2023 RSC Volleyball Coaches' Preseason Poll
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio -- Indiana University Kokomo is in familiar territory as the favorite in the 2023 River States Conference Volleyball Coaches' Preseason Poll. The Cougars led the polling of the league's head coaches with 10 of the 14 first-place votes cast.
IU Kokomo won its fifth RSC Championship postseason title in a row last year. The Cougars put up a 30-win season at 30-7 overall, 16-2 RSC with another trip to the NAIA National Championship. IU Kokomo, which received 152 total votes in the preseason poll, won the RSC West Division crown in 2022 on its way to another playoff title as well.
Point Park (Pa.) University, last year's RSC regular-season champion, came in second in the poll with 142 votes and three of the first-place votes. The Pioneers posted a 25-7 overall record and staked their way back to NAIA nationals with an undefeated 17-0 RSC campaign and an RSC semifinals trip.
Indiana University East grabbed a first-place vote as well and placed third in the poll. The Red Wolves received 135 votes in all coming off a 26-6, 15-3 RSC record and conference semifinals appearance.
Next in the poll were University of Rio Grande (Ohio) in fourth with 110 votes, St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) College in fifth with 107 votes, 2022 RSC runner-up Midway (Ky.) University in sixth with 103 votes and Indiana University Southeast in seventh with 89 votes. All of those were playoff qualifiers a year ago.
The final predicted playoff team is RSC newcomer Shawnee State (Ohio) University coming in eighth in the poll with 87 votes. The top eight teams in the RSC volleyball points system will qualify for the RSC Championship.
There are 14 teams in RSC volleyball this year. Seven teams each make up the RSC East & West Divisions. Shawnee State is in the RSC East while other newcomer Indiana University Purdue University Columbus is in the RSC West. IU East has moved to the RSC East to even out the divisions with the departure of Carlow (Pa.) University.
2023 RIVER STATES CONFERENCE VOLLEYBALL COACHES' PRESEASON POLL (AUG. 11)
(First-Place Votes in Parenthesis)
| School |
Votes |
| 1. IU Kokomo (10) |
152 |
| 2. Point Park (Pa.) (3) |
142 |
| 3. IU East (1) |
135 |
| 4. Rio Grande (Ohio) |
110 |
| 5. St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) |
107 |
| 6. Midway (Ky.) |
103 |
| 7. IU Southeast |
89 |
| 8. Shawnee State (Ohio) |
87 |
| 9. Ohio Christian |
64 |
| 10. WVU Tech |
61 |
| 11. Oakland City (Ind.) |
49 |
| 12. Brescia (Ky.) |
35 |
| 13. IUPUC |
30 |
| 14. Alice Lloyd (Ky.) |
19 |