Concordia University, St. Paul (CSP) was picked by the league coaches in the NSIC Preseason Volleyball Poll. The Golden Bears are coming off a 2021 season where they finished 24-9 and advanced to the NCAA Central Region Tournament Championship game. CSP received nine first-place votes to tally 217 points.
The defending NSIC regular season and tournament champions of St. Cloud State were picked second with 213 points and had the other six first-place votes. Wayne State was third with 189 points while Augustana was fourth with 179 points.
Minnesota Crookston Volleyball will open up a new era in 2022. Nick Meseck will take over as interim Head Coach this season. The Golden Eagles will have a number of returnees in 2022 that saw the floor a season ago. Juniors Mara Weisensel, Charlee Krieg and Madison Klimek are all back and each should play a big role this season.
Natalie Koke, a redshirt senior from Caledonia, Wisconsin, will be the Golden Eagles starting setter for the second season in a row. Sophomore Layne Whaley will play a huge role in the back row after leading the Golden Eagles in digs per set with 2.73 and finished with 205 digs, which was the most by a Golden Eagle freshman since 2018.
Classmate Bailey Schaefer finished with 10 or more kills in six different matches in 2021 and had a career-high 33 total attacks against Mary. Schaefer led the maroon and gold in kills and kills per set.
The Golden Eagles could get some solid production from freshmen Audrey Cariveau and local products Makenna Frazier ( Nevis), and Kora Norland (Fosston).
The Golden Eagles kick off their 2022 season with four matches at the Northern Michigan Open against the host school, Northern Michigan on August 25, at 5 P.M.
The 2022 NSIC Volleyball season will begin with non-conference matches on Thursday, August 25 while the NSIC schedule begins Friday, September 9. The NSIC regular season champion will be determined by the 20-game conference schedule. The top eight teams will play in the single-elimination NSIC Volleyball Tournament on November 11-13. All three rounds of the tournament will take place at the Gangelhoff Center on the campus of Concordia University, St. Paul.
