Complete AVCA Division III Preseason Poll (.pdf) | Complete MCVL Coaches Preseason Poll (.pdf)
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Baldwin Wallace University men's volleyball team has been selected 19th in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Preseason Poll marking the first time in the four-year history of the program that the Yellow Jackets have made an appearance in the national rankings. The Yellow Jackets were also selected to finish first in the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League Coaches Preseason Poll.
BW, under the direction of fourth-year head coach Kyle Mars, was picked 19th in the AVCA poll with 89 points. The defending NCAA Division III National Champions, Stevens Institute of Technology (N.J.) was picked first with 23 first place votes and 460 total points.
Coach Mars' squad was also picked first in the MCVL for the first time with seven first-place votes and 78 total points. University of Mount Union and Wittenberg University round out the top three both tallying one first-place vote and 66 total points each. Trine (Ind.) University also received one first-place vote and finished with 58 points
The Yellow Jackets concluded the 2023 campaign with a record of 26-8 and a 7-1 mark in the MCVL on the way to their first MCVL Championship in program history and the program's first appearance in the NCAA DIII Men's Volleyball Tournament.
BW returns 12 letterwinners, three All-Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League players, and nine Academic All-MCVL honorees from last year's squad.
The Yellow Jackets open the season on Friday and Saturday, January 20 and 21 when the team hosts the 2024 BW Invitational. BW will open the invitational with a non-conference game against Eastern Mennonite (Va.) University on Friday in Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center at 7 p.m.. On Saturday, the team will take on Elmira (N.Y.) College at 12 p.m. and Buffalo State (N.Y.) University at 4 p.m.
