Akron
The Zips open year six under the direction of head coach Tom Hanna, as Akron posted a 16-12 overall mark last season and finished 9-7 in the MAC. Akron returns 12 players from a year ago, including their top attacker, setter and defensive specialist in seniors LS Alexis Adleta, S Emily Weigand and DS Taylor Sharrits. Adleta recorded a team-high 289 kills in 2019, averaging 2.81 kills per set with a .156 hitting percentage. Adleta added a second-best 298 total digs with 2.89 digs per set and 41 total blocks. Contributing to Adleta's success was 2020 Preseason All-MAC recipient Weigand, posting a team-best 1,058 assists or 10.27 assists per set. Weigand distributed the team's most service aces (50) and added 99 kills, 280 digs and 56 blocks. Sharrits anchors the squad defensively, collecting a team-high 475 digs for nearly five digs per set (4.61) and tallied 25 service aces.
Ball State
While the Cardinals return a majority of last season's team which posted a 20-12 (11-5 MAC) record, captured the MAC Tournament title and battled No. 5 Nebraska in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament, the Cardinals will be missing four-year startign setter Amber Seaman and four-year starting libero Kate Avila. In addition, the team graduated its top blocker from a year ago in middle Sydnee VanBeek. The good news, Ball State returns 2019 MAC Freshman of the Year Natalie Risi who played in all 126 sets and led the offense with 360 kills a year ago. In fact, the Cardinals return nearly all of its offensive production (72.6% of total kills) from last season, including 2019 MAC Tournament MVP Kia Holder, and Natalie Mitchem (259) and Allison Hamaker (243) who ranked second and third, respectively, on the team in kills last season.
Bowling Green
Since arriving to Bowling Green in 2012, Coach Danijela Tomic has ensured a pipeline of record performances at the libero position. In each of Coach Tomic's eight seasons the Falcons have witnessed another name placed in the record book for digs in a single season and digs per set. Last year it was Julia Walz that continued the trend, joining Kallie Seimet, Madeline Garda and Ashley Dunn on the list from the Tomic era. Walz logged 677 digs a year ago, the fourth most in the program history, while also averaging 5.55 digs per set, the fifth best mark in program history. Last year the Falcons saw a duo of players register at least 300 kills in a season for the first since 2015. Katelyn Meyer logged 459, just two away from breaking into the Top 10 all-time for the Falcons. She did place her name in the record book for attack attempts, tallying 1,374 for the third most in a single season in program history.
Buffalo
The Bulls will have a lot of new faces this season when they take the court at Millett Hall on Friday evening. UB does welcome back nine players from the 2019 season, but they have six newcomers who are eager to begin their UB careers, many who are expected to play big roles for head coach Scott Smith and his staff. Buffalo will run a 6-2 system this year utilizing both of their setters on the roster. Sophomore Emma Puzausky returns after playing in 34 sets last year, while junior Kyndal Bacon joins the mix after playing her first two seasons at Colby Community College where she was a first-team all-league player. UB's most experience lies within their middle blocker position, and that begins with senior captain Lexi Nordmann. The DeWitt, MI native played in every set in 2019 and led the Bulls in blocks. Sophomore Courtney Okwara is expected to fill an expanded role this season after seeing limited action during her freshman campaign. Sophomore Abby Leigh, who played all over the front row last season as a freshman will also be a large contributor.
Central Michigan
CMU, which opens the winter, 2021 season with a trip to Ohio this weekend, returns nearly every key contributor from its 2019 team that shared the MAC West crown and advanced to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. The division crown was CMU's first since 2003 and the postseason berth was the program's first since 2011. The 2019 Chippewas finished 21-9, posting their most victories since 2007. Outside hitter Kalina Smith and middle blocker Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez headline the returnees. Both are seniors and both were First Team All-MAC selections in 2019. Also back up front are mainstays Anna Erickson, Maddie Whitfield, Savannah Thompson, Megan Siversten and Sierra Gray. The setting duo of Kendall Braate and Grace Butler also returns, giving the Chippewas plenty of talent, experience and depth across the floor.
Eastern Michigan
This season, the Green and White welcome four freshmen to the roster, many of whom will look to make an immediate impact on the court. The roster also features 11 returning letterwinners, including Strefling who posted 346 kills in 2019. Strefling, one of three seniors for the Eagles, was one of six players named to the West Division Preseason All-MAC Team. The Niles, Mich. native appeared in 28 matches, making 24 starts last season for the Eagles. Strefling's 3.27 kills per set ranked sixth in the conference in 2019, and she ranked second the team averaging 3.74 digs a set.
Kent State
Ninth-year head coach Don Gromala and his staff welcomed the team's 17 student-athletes back to Kent during the final week of 2020 and resumed preparations for a shortened 22-match schedule in which the Flashes will play each Mid-American Conference opponent twice. Four of the top five scorers from last season's team that led the conference in hitting percentage and ranked second in kills per set a season ago return to the lineup. The Flashes ranked 14th in the country in digs per set and bring back their top four leaders in the category. Five newcomers, which include a transfer from Charlotte and four freshmen, will help Kent State have one of its deepest teams in recent years.
Miami
Miami head coach Carolyn Condit is closing in on her 750th career win. Condit owns a 749-557 career record and enters her 41st season as a head coach. Condit's 749 total victories are tied for eighth among active NCAA Division I coaches and tied for 24nd all-time. Owning more victories than any coach in the history of the Miami Athletic Department, Condit holds a 650-479 record and is in her 37th season in charge of the Red and White... Junior outside hitter Gaby Harper was one of six selected to the All-MAC East Division Preseason Team. Harper earned all-conference honors in her first two years with the RedHawks, including First-Team All-MAC honors as well as MAC Freshman of the Year accolades in 2018. Harper averaged 2.65 kills per set, 3.17 digs per set and 0.52 blocks per set as a sophomore a season ago.
Northern Illinois
NIU returns 12 letterwinners from the 2019 squad, including it's top-two leaders in kills per set in senior middle blocker Kennedy Wallace and sophomore outside hitter Kaitlyn Bell . Wallace led the Huskies with 294 kills a season ago, averaging 2.67 per set which doubled her production from 2018. She also had 64 blocks. Bell had 267 kills in her freshman season to average 2.43 per set. Running the offense is junior setter Grace Balensiefer who had over 1,000 assists a year ago. Defensively, the Huskies return their top blocker from 2019 in junior Jasmine Kemp. Kemp earned a MAC Defensive Player of the Week award last season and had a team-high 67 blocks. NIU also returns three players that averaged at least 1.75 digs per set a season ago.
Ohio
Ohio finished the 2019 season 18-13 overall and 9-7 in the MAC, earning the No. 5 seed in the MAC Tournament. The Bobcats advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament after defeating Kent State in the first round. Vera Giacomazzi enters her senior campaign as a three-time All-MAC First Team selection and two-time MAC Setter of the Year winner. Tia Jimerson has also garnered All-MAC First Team recognition three times and is coming off of a 2019 junior season in which she was named MAC Player of the Year, MAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, AVCA Honorable Mention All-America and AVCA All-Region. Maggie Nedoma, who transferred to Ohio from SIU prior to her 2019 junior season, earned All-MAC First Team laurels after recording a team-high 388 kills in her first season as a Bobcat.
Toledo
The Rockets started out the 2019 season strong, but stumbled heading into conference play in a year that ended with a 9-19 record and a 2-14 mark in league contests. After starting the year 0-2, Toledo rattled off six straight wins and at one point won 12 consecutive sets to bring its record to 6-2. That stretch included a 3-0 outing at the Radford Invitational, the first time the Rockets swept a non-conference tournament since 2011. Toledo returns all but one letterwinner from the 2019 squad. The Rockets return their 2019 leader in kills (senior Chloee Kleespies, 2.65 kills/set), digs (Neal, 4.31 digs/set) and assists (Megan Beasley, 7.81 assists/set).
Western Michigan
Western Michigan enters the 2021 spring campaign after going 14-14 and 5-11 in Mid-American Conference play last season. Since 2010, WMU holds a 13-7 advantage over Toledo and has won six of the last 10 matches on the road against the Rockets. All five of WMU's top scorers from a year ago return in senior Rachel Bontrager, sophomore Maggie King, junior Meredith Phillips, redshirt juniors Janell Williams and Charley Andrews. The five combined for 1,207 of WMU's 1,427 total kills last year. Bontrager was named preseason All-MAC after leading the MAC last season with 414 kills. Bontrager recorded double digit kills in 25 of WMU's 28 matches en route to earning First Team All-MAC honors for the second straight season.
