WAYNE, Neb. -- By the closest of margins, the Wayne State College volleyball team was picked second in the 2023 NSIC Preseason Coaches’ Poll released Wednesday morning by the league office in Burnsville, Minnesota. 

Wayne State collected seven first-place votes and 189 points in voting conducted by league coaches in the poll.  The Wildcats finished the 2022 season with a record of 30-3 and captured their first-ever NSIC regular season title with a 19-1 league mark.  It was just the fourth 30-win season in school history. 

WSC ended the year ranked fourth in the final AVCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll and was the #1 seed and hosted the NCAA Central Region Tournament.

Concordia-St. Paul edged WSC as the team to beat in the NSIC this season.  The Golden Bears received 190 points and eight first-place tallies with the Wildcats next just one point back at 189 and the remaining seven first-place votes. The Golden Bears finished as the national runner-up last season.

Minnesota Duluth was third at 165 points with St. Cloud State fourth at 154. Both the Bulldogs and the Huskies teams advanced to the NCAA Division II National Tournament last season.

Southwest Minnesota State was fifth with 142 points followed by Sioux Falls (130), Augustana (109), Northern State (108), Winona State (99) and Minnesota State (85) rounding out the top 10 teams.

Wildcat junior middle hitter Taya Beller was voted by league coaches as the Preseason Player of the Year in the NSIC and the graduate of Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family High School was selected as the Wayne State Player to Watch this season.

Beller, a 6-2 junior rightside/middle hitter from Lindsay, led the ‘Cats last season in hitting at 3.88 kills per set (3rd-NSIC).  She ranked second in the league and eighth in NCAA Division II with a .398 hitting percentage and was named NSIC Offensive and AVCA Central Region Player of the Year.  Beller also earned AVCA and D2CCA All-America First Team honors and was a three-time NSIC Player of the Week to go with AVCA/GameChanger National Player of the Week (September 27) last season for the Wildcats.

Wayne State opens the 2023 season facing Nebraska-Kearney in an exhibition match at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 30th at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln on Volleyball Day in Nebraska and opens the regular season on Friday, September 1 at the Golden Eagle Invitational in Irvine, California facing Cal State East Bay at 4 p.m.

2023 Preseason NSIC Volleyball Coaches Poll

1.         Concordia-St. Paul (8)               190 pts.

2.         Wayne State (7)                       189 pts.

3.         Minnesota Duluth                      165 pts.

4.         St. Cloud State                          154 pts.

5.         Southwest Minnesota State        142 pts.

6.         Sioux Falls                                130 pts.

7.         Augustana                                109 pts.

8.         Northern State                          108 pts.

9.         Winona State                            99 pts.

10.        Minnesota State                        85 pts.

11.        MSU Moorhead                         64 pts.

12.        Bemidji State                             49 pts.

13.        University of Mary                     47 pts.

14.        Minnesota Crookston                28 pts.

15.        Minot State                               16 pts.

                        first place votes in ( )