NEWTOWN, Pa. — The Middle Atlantic Conference office today released preseason polls for the upcoming Women's Volleyball season. MAC Commonwealth coaches picked Eastern University Women's Volleyball to finish second.

The Eagles finished last season with a five-set loss to the Messiah University Falcons in the MAC Commonwealth Championship game. The Falcons earned the top seed and the regular season championship with a five-set win at Eastern in the final week of the regular season.

Coming into last season, the Eagles had won MAC Commonwealth titles in all three of their seasons in the league. With several key losses to graduation, Head Coach Mark Birtwistle will rely on a mix of veterans and new players in a quest to take the Eagles back to the NCAA Tournament.

Under his leadership, the Eagles have won 24 Conference Championships and have been to 22 NCAA Tournaments. Last year was just the third time since 1999 that the Eagles were not in the field.

In this year's poll, league coaches gave the nod to the defending champion Falcons. Messiah garnered five first place votes and 47 points in the poll and the Eagles grabbed the other three for 45 points. Stevenson was picked to finish ahead of York in third place.

The top four finishers in the regular season qualify for the MAC Commonwealth Tournament. The semifinals are on Nov. 12 and the Championship on the 15th. The winner of that tournament secures the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Eastern's season starts at DeSales next Friday, with the MAC Commonwealth season beginning at Widener on Sept. 24. The Eagles will play at Messiah and at Stevenson on back-to-back weeks in October and will host York on Nov. 5.