Chicago, Ill. - The Illinois Tech women's volleyball team will kick off their 2023 season out west, when they head to California to play a trio of matches over Friday and Saturday. The Scarlet Hawks will look to use the weekend as their launching point to get back to post-season play.

"Fourteen strong will lead us out in California this weekend as we open up our season at the Pacific Coast Classic, co-hosted by Pomona Pitzer and Claremont Mudd Scripps colleges" said Head Coach Mark Johnston.  "From top to bottom, this is the strongest team that I have had the pleasure of coaching here at IIT" said Johnston.

The Scarlet Hawks qualified for the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference(NACC) post-season tournament during the 2021 season, claiming the sixth and final seed after finishing 18-12 overall (8-5 in NACC play). They upset #3 seed Benedictine University in the opening round, before falling to Concordia Wisconsin in the semifinals. Last season, the Hawks found themselves on the outside looking in for post-season play, as they finished eighth in the conference, just outside of the top six to qualify, with a 14-11 record overall (6-7 in the NACC).

"We play in three tough tournaments to start the season before we get into the heart of NACC competition" said Johnston. "We plan on getting back into the postseason as we fell one match short last year...let's just say we're hungry for it"

The conference tournament has been expanded for the 2023 season to include the top eight teams in the conference. The Scarlet Hawks were predicted to finish eighth in the NACC pre-season women's volleyball poll, voted on by NACC coaches and sports information directors. If the Hawks are able to finish eighth place or higher this season, they will reach their goal of getting back to post-season play. Aurora University received the most first-place votes with 17, followed by Concordia Wisconsin with six.

While five players graduated or departed from the roster during the offseason, Coach Johnston has three first-year players joining 11 returners to form the squad of 14. Two-time All-NACC player Briar Moore will continue to lead the way for the Scarlet Hawks, as the do-everything outside hitter paced the team with 213 kills last season for a 2.63 kills per set average. Moore also served up 21 service aces, 26 assists, was second on the team with 178 digs, while chipping in 14 blocks at the net. Sadie Harrington finished third on the team with 121 kills, while adding 36 blocks to rank second in that category. Stephanie Nguyen led from the libero position last season, leading the team with 285 digs, good for 3.52 digs per set. Setter Grace Reckamp led the team in assists with 346, while finishing third in digs with 150. Victoria Vann paced the team with .53 blocks per set on 35 total blocks.

The Scarlet Hawks will play seven non-conference matches to open the season before they kick off conference play September 14th, when they host MSOE at the Keating Center.