With 74 points to its credit, the volleyball program at Shawnee State was selected to finish fifth in the 2025 River States Conference Preseason Coaches Poll -- as announced by River States Conference officials in a press release that was put out by the conference Tuesday afternoon.

By nabbing 74 overall points, Shawnee State placed ahead of seven teams currently in the RSC -- including sixth-place Indiana-Southeast's 68 points and seventh-place West Virginia Tech, who, with 53 points, rounded out the seven teams who eclipsed the 50-point barrier in the poll. Oakland City (Ind.), Midway (Ky.) and Indiana-Columbus each garnered 48, 46 and 43 points respectively to finish eighth, ninth and 10th in the poll while Brescia (Ky.)'s 28 tallies and RSC newcomer Kentucky Christian's 11 markers round out the teams in the poll.

Indiana-Kokomo, who went 16-0 to win the River States Conference Regular Season Championship and finished as the RSC Tournament Runner-Up en route to a 33-6 overall record and a NAIA National Tournament berth, emerged at the top spot with 120 points and 10 first-place votes while Rio Grande collected 109 tallies and the remaining pair of first-place notches. Indiana-East -- the 2024 RSC Tournament Champions who defeated IU-Kokomo in a five-set thriller to win the tournament crown before falling in the 2024 NAIA Opening Round last season -- collected 102 points while Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, with 90 points, rounded out the top four spots in the poll.

In 2024, Shawnee State went 7-1 against the teams ranked sixth through 11th in the 2025 River States Conference Preseason Poll (Indiana-Southeast, West Virginia Tech, Oakland City, Midway, Indiana-Columbus and Brescia).

The Bears lose First-Team All-RSC talents Haidyn Wamsley (a four-year starter) and Kylee Gifford (a three-year starter) but return Third-Team All-RSC member Makaela Lovely (938 career assists) along with fellow seniors Reagan Lewis (1,301 career assists), Ava Jenkins (990 career digs) and Megan Steele (856 career digs) in addition to key sophomore contributors Whytney Faulkner and Camille McIntosh, who combined for 345 kills last season between them. Sophomore defensive specialist Brooke Bossert (212 digs in 2024) along with frontline players in junior Maelynn Howell (78 kills) and Camille Hall (47 kills) round out the returning letterwinners from 2024.

Devan Spriggs, along with assistant coach Sydney Seth, have brought in eight newcomers to this year's version of the roster, with 5-10 junior frontline player Nuria Calvo, a native of Spain who tallied 103 kills and 27 total blocks last season at Bethel (Tenn.) and 6-2 sophomore frontline talent Jayden Luette, a Carrolton, Texas product who transferred from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.), joining the roster for the 2025 season. Six additional newcomers join them, including local products Bri Hicks (Notre Dame), Joey Neal (Minford), Katelynn Boerger (North Adams) and Hallie Oyer (Waverly) and fellow in-state talents Cally Carpenter (Fredricktown) and Natalie Reida (Big Walnut).

The 2025 season begins Saturday, Aug. 16 when the Shawnee State volleyball program heads to Campbellsville, Ky. to take on Tennessee Wesleyan and Johnson (Tenn.) in a pair of neutral-site matches that will kick off the 2025-26 athletic year for the SSU athletic department as a whole.

For more information on the Shawnee State volleyball program, visit https://ssubears.com/sports/womens-volleyball or visit the volleyball program's Instagram and Facebook pages at https://www.instagram.com/ssubears/ and https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057197839907.