NAPERVILLE – For the first time in league history, defending College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament champion North Park is the preseason favorite to win the conference women’s volleyball crown in 2023, according to a vote from CCIW head coaches earlier this month.

2023 Preseason CCIW Women's Volleyball Coaches' Poll

1. North Park (6)	62
2. Carthage (2)	54
3. Illinois Wesleyan	47
4. Millikin (1)	43
5. North Central	36
6. Elmhurst	30
7. Augustana	29
8. Wheaton	14
9. Carroll	9

 
The Vikings were the recipients of six first-place votes on the ballot, totaling 62 points for the top spot in the preseason rankings. NPU, led by AVCA First-Team All-American Adriana Rodriguez and CCIW Coach of the Year Michael Sopocy, won their first CCIW Tournament title and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time last fall.
 
Carthage, which won its 13th CCIW regular-season championship in 2022, tallied 54 points on the strength of two first-place votes to place second in Tuesday’s poll. The Firebirds will be in search of back-to-back league titles for the first time since 2014-15, as well as consecutive outright championships since winning five in a row from 2005 through 2009.
 
Illinois Wesleyan was third in the poll with 47 points. The 2023 ballot marks the eighth consecutive season the Titans have been placed in the top three of the league’s preseason poll.
 
Millikin – which earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament last season – earned the fourth spot in the 2023 CCIW poll. The Big Blue collected the final first-place vote as part of their 43-point total. 
 
One season removed from its first CCIW Tournament berth in more than a decade, North Central notched 36 points for fifth position in Tuesday’s poll. 
 
Elmhurst followed in sixth place with 30 points, one point ahead of seventh-place Augustana with 29 points. The Vikings pushed regular-season winner Carthage to a fifth set in last season’s CCIW Tournament semifinal.
 
Wheaton had 14 points for the eighth spot, followed by Carroll with nine points.
 
Regular-season action begins on Friday, Sept. 1 when North Park hosts Wisconsin-River Falls at 11:30 a.m. in Chicago. It’s the first of 30 matches featuring a CCIW team in the first 36 hours of the season. Conference play is slated to begin Wednesday, Sept. 13.