ANNVILLE, Pa. – The MAC Freedom released its final coaches' poll of the Fall 2026 season on Friday and the Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team was selected as the preseason favorite to win a seventh straight conference championship.
The Ducks totaled 63 points and seven first-place votes, the other two first-place votes going to Misericordia (56 points), whom the Ducks rallied from a 2-1 deficit for a five-set win in last year's MAC Freedom Championship Game. DeSales finished five points back of Misericordia and Lebanon Valley rounded out the top four with 44 points.
The entire poll can be found below:
| Rank |
Team |
Points |
1st Place Votes |
| 1 |
STEVENS |
63 |
7 |
| 2 |
Misericordia |
56 |
2 |
| 3 |
DeSales |
51 |
|
| 4 |
Lebanon Valley |
44 |
|
| 5 |
Arcadia |
35 |
|
| 6 |
Marywood |
25 |
|
| 7 |
FDU-Florham |
24 |
|
| 8 |
King's |
17 |
|
| 9 |
Delaware Valley |
9 |
|
The Ducks finished 2025 with a 22-10 record, including a 6-1 mark in MAC Freedom play, before sweeping DeSales in the MAC Freedom Semifinal, then outlasting Misericordia in the title match. All-Conference selections
Alyssa O'Neal,
Ella Boland,
Sarah Bolduc (Second Team) and
Lianna Schmieder &
Molly Harris (Honorable Mention) all return for the Ducks, joined by
Eva Tarolli,
Ella Kraver, and
Alexa Brucculeri, who each appeared in more than 60 percent of the team's matches last season.
Up Next: The Ducks open the regular season with three matches at the Brandeis Invitational between September 4-5. On Friday (4
th), the Ducks will face MIT at 5:00 PM before a pair of matches the following day against the host Judges (11:00 AM) and Wellesley (1:00 PM). Links for live stats and video will be posted to StevensDucks.com as they're made available.
#AllRise
