COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The San Diego State volleyball team was picked to finish in a tie for fourth place in the Mountain West preseason coaches poll released Wednesday by the conference office.
In a vote of the league's 11 head coaches, the Aztecs received 64 points, along with New Mexico, while trailing defending MW tournament champion Utah State (92 pts, 5 first-place votes) and 2022 regular-season standard bearer UNLV (92 pts, 3 first-place votes), which shared the top spot in the poll, followed closely by third-place Colorado State (86 pts, 3 first-place votes).
Following SDSU and UNM, Boise State (59 pts) finds itself slotted in the sixth position, while Air Force (38 pts), San Jose State (35 pts), Nevada (32 pts), Wyoming (28 pts) and Fresno State (15 pts) occupy the final five spots in the poll, respectively.
Despite an 11-20 overall record, the Scarlet and Black won seven of its last 11 matches in 2022, capped by an appearance in the Mountain West tournament where the sixth-seeded Aztecs upset No. 3 seed Colorado State in the first round before falling to second-seeded San José State in the semifinals.
Building on that late-season momentum, San Diego State returns 10 letterwinners from last year, including the outside hitting combo of sophomore Madison Corf and senior Heipua Tautua'a.
Corf received all-conference honorable mention during her freshman campaign in 2022 after averaging a team-best 2.61 kills across 109 sets and ranked second on the squad with 282 kills overall. The Kansas City, Missouri, native was also slotted third on the Aztecs with double-digit kills in 11 matches while occupying the fourth position with 172 digs (1.59/set).
Meanwhile, Tautua'a continued to display her versatility last season, finishing second on the team in digs (244) while ranking third in kills (260), kills per set (2.36) and digs per set (2.22). Additionally, the Wai'anae, Hawai'i, product led SDSU with seven double-doubles (kills-digs) and was slotted fourth on the squad with 39.0 total blocks, including 13 solo stops.
The Aztecs also return a pair of middle blockers in super senior Julia Haynie and junior Elly Schraeder. Haynie ranked fifth in the Mountain West with a career-best .356 hitting percentage, while Schraeder was slotted sixth in the league with 1.09 blocks per set, finishing with a team-high 118 blocks overall.
With Coach Hilliard entering his fourth season at the controls, San Diego State will benefit from the arrival of six talented newcomers, including AVCA High School All-American Natalie Hughes, along with Division I transfers Taylor Underwood and Bailey Darnell. Also featured in that group are former prep stars Fatimah Hall, Campbell Hague and Amber Keen.
The Aztecs open their 2023 campaign on Tuesday, August 22, when they play host to North Florida in an exhibition match, beginning at 6 p.m. PT. San Diego State commence its regular-season slate in the Pacific Northwest at the Hotel Vance Rose City Showdown in Portland, Oregon, where the Scarlet and Black will square off against Cal State Fullerton, Kansas State and host Portland State on successive days, August 25-27.
Season and single-match tickets for the 2023 Aztec volleyball campaign are on sale now. Click on link at top of page.
2023 MOUNTAIN WEST VOLLEYBALL PRESEASON POLL
(First-place votes in parentheses)
Rk Team Pts
T1. Utah State (5) 92
T1. UNLV (3) 92
3. Colorado State (3) 86
T4. San Diego State 64
T4. New Mexico 64
6. Boise State 59
7. Air Force 38
8. San José State 35
9. Nevada 32
10. Wyoming 28
11. Fresno State 15
Aztec Volleyball Picked Fourth in Preseason MW Poll
