CCC RELEASE

BEVERLY, Mass. – Days away from its first match of the 2023 season, Suffolk volleyball has already rewritten the Rams' record books as the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Coaches' have voted the blue-and-gold to finish in a share of second place in the league standings, which marks the highest preseason prediction in the program's history. 

Suffolk secured 62 points and one first-place nod to tie with Wentworth for second-place in the nine-team field. The Rams and Leopards finished behind three-time defending CCC Champion and preseason favorite Endicott, who scooped up six first-place picks, for 77 points, and two points ahead of Gordon, who held the final first-place vote. The Rams' first-place vote was a first in program history. 

The bottom half of the preseason projections in order were Western New England (37), Roger Williams (33), Nichols (33), the University of New England (31) and Curry (9). 

The second-place prediction is the highest for Suffolk in league preseason polls, upstaging its fifth-place selection in the 2019 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Coaches Preseason nod, which marked the first time the Rams broke into the conference's preseason top five. Both historic preseason rankings have come under Scott Blanchard's guidance.

Blanchard is back for his sixth season on the sideline of the blue-and-gold and looks to take his squad even further than a year ago. Last season, Suffolk played into the CCC semifinals for the first time in program history. The Rams fell to 2022 CCC Runner-Up Gordon in a five-set thriller. 

Although the Rams' line-up lost the program's all-time assist leader in Harmony Johnson and the program's first-ever CCC Libero of the Year Kenzley Bell, the bulk of the Suffolk's every starters and rotation players are back. McKenna Keowen, a two-time all-league honoree (3.17 kps, 2.26 dps) looks to pick up where she left off as a sophomore. Keowen's junior classmate Morgan Kelsey was one of the biggest threats from the service lines with nearly 1.00 aces per set. Jess Weber paced the attack in 2022 with 3.48 kps, while Grace Cervenka supplied 2.12 kps. 

Suffolk volleyball will jet set for the first serve of its 27th season as the Rams are scheduled to partake in the Great Lakes Crossover over Labor Day weekend. The blue-and-gold will face all new opponents in Hiram, Trine, Baldwin Wallace and Heidelberg at the Cedar Point Sports Center in Sandusky, Ohio. 

2023 CCC Women's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll