The Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association released their preseason poll on Wednesday with four Northern Kentucky teams showing up on it.
The poll, conducted by the KVCA with 25 coaches from across the state voting on it, unanimously ranked back-to-back champion Assumption at No. 1 with all 25 first-place votes.
Notre Dame Academy came in at No. 6 in the poll, Ryle is No. 7, St. Henry is No. 10 and Beechwood snuck in at No. 25.
Full poll below:
Notre Dame has new leaders at the helm, staying with the co-head coach route and naming Madison Salkowski and Hannah Colvin to replace Leslie Litmer and Jenna Leistner. Salkowski and Colvin are Panda alums, Salkowski recently serving as a varsity assistant and Colvin leading the junior varsity team. The Pandas lost seven seniors, three of them headed to play Division I volleyball, including 9th Region Player of the Year Julia Grace and Ava Tilden, who are headed to play at Xavier and Riley McCloskey, attending the University of Memphis. Even with the turnover, the Pandas will still be stout with Audrey Dyas, Lizzy Larkins, Grace Portwood, Teagan Kondik ad Katie Zwick back in the rotation mix. Dyas and Portwood had over 200 kills last season, Kondik not far behind with 185 while Larkins tallied 941 assists.
Ryle really turned some heads across the state last season as they started off 11-0, including a win over state champ Assumption at the Louisville Invitational Volleyball Tournament. It was the first win for a public school over Assumption this century. Ryle finished 24-9 and took St. Henry to five sets in the 9th Region tournament semifinals. They graduated three seniors, Karsyn Griffin continuing her career at University of North Alabama and Lucy Trapp, playing down the road at Thomas More. Morgan Heater, Layna Wilkinson, Ariana Furuta, Rachel King and Francesca Hansel return with the most playing time and production from last season. Heater, King and Wilkinson recorded over 100 kills last season while Furuta had 470 digs and Hansel had 321.
St. Henry will also be in the mix for a 9th Region title as they return all but two of their rotational players. Elizabeth Casey and Corrine Blackburn graduated, but Kenadi Sieg, Madi Demler, Caroline Tabeling, Emily Helmers, Madelyn Keipert, Violet Main and Gianna Butler make for a deep core returning from a 33-6 season and a 9th Region runner-up finish. Demler, Helmers and Main recorded over 200 kills last season while Sieg led with 535 digs.
Beechwood’s upside is through the roof. They return everyone from last season as they went 25-9 with six of those losses coming from Notre Dame, St. Henry and Assumption. The other three were losses to out of state opponents, so if they can figure out a way to get past district rival NDA and small school competitor St. Henry, they’ll certainly have a shot for an All “A”, district and regional title. Players to watch include Isabel O’Brien, Rachel Lewandowski, Isabel Baaker and Kendale Lair along the front line, each registering over 130 kills last season. Skylr Estep tallied 715 assists last season and Maggie Dawson and Piper Steinmetz also return as key rotational figures who played in every game last season.
State semifinalist Scott was not ranked despite returning back-to-back 10th Region Player of the Year Milyn Minor and four starters. They won 31 games last season and won the 10th Region and the program reached new heights under Andrea Sullivan with a state semifinal appearance. They defeated West Jessamine in the first round of the state tournament, who is ranked No. 13 in the preseason poll.
The KVCA also released the top five teams for each region. Notre Dame is tops in the 9th with Ryle and St. Henry tied for second. Beechwood comes in at fourth with Highlands in fifth.
Scott leads the 10th Region with Bishop Brossart second, George Rogers Clark third, Montgomery County fourth and Campbell County fifth.
Simon Kenton is fourth in the 8th Region top five, North Oldham, Collins and Oldham County landing in front of them, respectively.
The KHSAA volleyball regular season begins on Aug. 18. For all of the preseason polls, visit the KVCA’s website.