Storm Volleyball Voted 10th in GAC Preseason Poll

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Southeastern volleyball team was picked to finish 10^th in the 2026 Great American Conference Preseason Poll, voted on by the league's coaches.
 
Harding earned the most total points across the conference with 114 votes in first, while Oklahoma Baptist received the most first-place tallies with six in second, with 111 total points. The Lady Bisons collected four first-place nods, followed by Ouachita Baptist in third, who earned the final two first-place votes. Southwestern Oklahoma State and Arkansas Tech rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth, respectively.
 
The Savage Storm enter 2026 off the back of a 10-18 season during 2025 and finished ninth in the conference standings with a 5-11 GAC record. SE returns eight players from a year ago, including last season's digs and assists leaders Merrick Hammel and Jasmin Dion, along with Gabby Jones, who ranked third on the team in kills. All three enter their sophomore season after putting together a freshman season that saw Hammel tally 263 digs, Dion record 684 assists, and Jones slam down 184 kills.
 
Also returning for the Storm is Patience Lewis, who has been a member of the Southeastern volleyball program for five seasons and is one of 14 players in program history to record 1,000 career digs. Lewis heads into the season 12^th all-time in digs with 1,105 after recording 648 in 2024, which is the fifth-most digs recorded in a season by a Storm player.
 
In addition to the eight returners, head coach Nicole Solum-Mitchell added nine newcomers during the offseason to the squad, featuring eight freshmen and sophomore transfer Rylee Jackson from Dallas Baptist.
 
Southeastern gets its season under way on August 27-29 at the Southern Invite in Joplin, Mo., hosted by Missouri Southern. The blue and gold will play four matches across the invitational, starting on Thursday, Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. against Missouri Southern. The Storm's first home match of the 2026 season is on Thursday, Sept. 15 at 6 p.m. against East Central in Bloomer Sullivan Gym. 
 

2026 GAC Volleyball Preseason Poll

Team	Total Points	First-Place Votes
Harding	114	4
Oklahoma Baptist	111	6
Ouachita Baptist	96	2
Southwestern Oklahoma State	94
Arkansas Tech	86
Henderson State	62
East Central	62
Southern Nazarene	46
Southern Arkansas	43
Southeastern	42
Northwestern Oklahoma State	24
Arkansas-Monticello	12