NEWTOWN, Pa.— The Middle Atlantic Conference Office today released preseason polls for the 2026 Women's Volleyball season. In a very close vote, MAC Commonwealth coaches picked Eastern to finish in the middle of a tight three-team group at the top of the lead. The Eagles finished two points behind the Stevenson University Mustangs and two points ahead of the Messiah Falcons.
While the Eagles return a strong nucleus of talent, veteran Head Coach
Mark Birtwistle will need to integrate seven new players into that group as the Eagles look to work back to the top of the MAC Commonwealth after finishing second in each of the last two seasons.
Hannah Pringle and
Viviana Fragoso earned MAC Commonwealth Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors in their final seasons. While those two both graduated, the Eagles had new players in every spot around them.
Alexis Standford finished second in the MAC Commonwealth behind Pringle in both kills and kills per set.
Sarah Furey picked up valuable experience running the offense in her rookie season.
Emma Ciesielka and
Grace Cooper each played as full-time defensive specialists. The Eagles also return two starting middle hitters in
Maddie Golia and
Veronica Faber and a pair of left-handed opposites in
Jessie Schreiber and
Josie Arezina.
The Eagles open their season at Swarthmore College and will play tournaments in Chicago and Washington, D.C. before opening league play on Sept. 29th at home against Widener. The Pride, picked to finish fourth in the league, were the only MAC Commonealth team to beat Eastern in the regular season last fall. Eastern will host both Messiah on Oct. 21 and Stevenson on the final day of league competition on Nov. 4.
Birtwistle has 871 wins in his 35 years at the helm of the program. His teams have won 24 conference championships and played in 30-straight conference championship matches.
The winner of the MAC Commonwealth Tournament will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. With the addition of a ninth team in the league, the top five teams qualify for the MAC Commonwealth Tournament which begins with the 4th and 5th seeds playing on Nov. 10 and ends with the Championship match Saturday Nov. 14. League coaches picked York to finish fifth and Neumann to finish ahead of Hood, Alvernia, and Albright.
