SPRINGFIELD, IL – In a new three-division format, the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) volleyball team was selected to finished fourth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Central Division, as voted on by the coaches.

UIS secured sixth in the Eastern Division last season after finishing with an 11-20 overall record and 4-14 record in conference play.

"The team is looking forward to the start of the season," UIS coach Trey Salinas said. "One of our goals this year is to surpass our conference win-loss record from the previous year. We would also like to push ourselves into the top three teams in the Central Division as well as the top nine in the conference."

During the 2016 season, Lewis University took the regular-season conference title while Truman State University swept McKendree University in the GLVC Tournament Championship.

Truman State, Lewis and Rockhurst University each qualified for NCAA Division II Tournament. Lewis advanced to the national semifinals before falling to eventual national champion; Concordia University, St. Paul.

Rockhurst, McKendree and Lewis are the unanimous favorites to win the West, Central, East divisions, respectively. Lewis is ranked No. 8 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) NCAA Division II preseason poll, while Rockhurst received the No. 23 ranking.
 

2017 GLVC Volleyball East Division Preseason Poll		2017 GLVC Volleyball Central Division Preseason Poll		2017 GLVC Volleyball West Division Preseason Poll
1. Lewis	70 (14)	1. McKendree	70 (14)	1. Rockhurst	70 (14)
2. Indianapolis	54 (1)	2. Missouri-St. Louis	55 (1)	2. Truman State	57 (1)
3. Bellarmine	36	3. Quincy	42	3. Drury	40
4. UW-Parkside*	33	4. Illinois Springfield	33	4. Missouri S&T	34
5. Southern Indiana	27	5. Maryville	20	5. William Jewell	19

 
*ineligible for divisional title and GLVC Tournament

WHO'S WHO
The Prairie Stars are losing Kayla Katarzynski, who led the team last season with 404 digs. Ashley Beaton also ranked third on the team with 176 kills.

UIS returns 12 players from last year's squad, including Alli Splitt, who sported a conference-leading .367 hitting percentage, while setting a single-season school record. Splitt smashed a team-high 314 kills. Lexi Hall returns after topping the team in assists (557) and service aces (25). Among the school's career leaders, Hall currently holds the record for service aces (64), ranks second in assists (1,494) and fourth in digs (526).

Alyssa Hasler comes back after contributing 264 kills, a .262 hitting percentage, and a school record 140 blocks last season. The junior from South Bend, IN maintains the UIS record with 259 career blocks. Tiffany Wentworth returns to the squad to make contributions as a setter. She dished out 445 assists in 2016 while moving up to fourth among the UIS career leaders in assists (956).

As a team, the Prairie Stars ranked second in the conference with 2.17 blocks per set.
Newcomers looking to make an impact are junior transfer Taylor Bauer, freshmen Brianna Bush and Erin Ripple, among others.

CAPTIAL CLASSIC
UIS hosts the Capital Classic to begin the season. On Friday, the Prairie Stars face Ohio Valley University at 1 p.m. and Concord University at 7:30 p.m. UIS rounds out the tournament on Saturday by battling Mississippi College at 1 p.m. and Oakland City University at 7:30 p.m. Taking on opponents from different regions, the Prairie Stars look to see a variety of styles of play throughout the Capital Classic.

"The Capital Classic always gives us the opportunity to start our season with four home matches," said Salinas, who enters his third season as head coach of the Prairie Stars. "The lineup of opponents has us playing one regional opponent and three opponents whose play styles are all very different from one another. This will give us the opportunity to see, scout, and play a variety of different offensive and defensive schemes in preparation for our conference slate."

LOOKING AHEAD
In addition to facing some tough conference opponents, UIS hits the road to square off with Missouri Baptist University on Sept. 19. The Spartans are ranked No. 12 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) preseason poll.

"One match we are particularly excited about this season is our non-conference match against Missouri Baptist. An NAIA juggernaut, Missouri Baptist will be one of our toughest non-conference matches and will truly help us prepare to battle with some of our conference foes."

KEYS FOR SUCCESS
An element that will be driving the Prairie Stars this year is aggressiveness.

"Like every season, our ability to serve aggressive and prove consistent in serve receive will be a major factor in our success."

UIS showed strength in the middle last year and wants to continue developing from the outside and improving on defense.

"In addition, we will need to terminate more consistently from the pins this season. We were a middle-heavy offense last year and will need to spread our options out in order to see some of the results we want. While our blocking proved to contend for the best in the conference, we will need to couple that effort this year with better defensive play around the block in order to keep the rally going and give us more opportunities to terminate, offensively."