Leading off
(I'm not sure where I got 'gearing up,' but I'm sticking with it. It works)
A note, first. On the suggestion of another, I tried reaching out to coaches for a sound-bite or two about their teams, just a few quick insights that might not be so apparent from browsing stat sheets and recruit reports. I reached out to the head coaches of each program in this league, but got only one response (who actually asked that I phone….and then I lost the use of my computer, losing that coach's phone number in the process, then I got a stomach bug….it just didn't work out).
So I'm gonna scrap that approach. It might yet be too early, too long before the season, for those coaches to be up on things like this. I don't doubt I'd get a higher hit-rate if I started these in a couple of months, but that would mean either clustering them all together or narrowing the scope, neither of which I want to do. So let's roll up our sleeves and dive in.
The rundown, as you'll recall:
America East Conference
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Patriot League
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Big Sky Conference
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Northeast Conference
Big South Conference
Colonial Athletic Association
Ohio Valley Conference
Horizon League
Western Athletic Conference
Southland Conference
Conference USA
The Summit League
Atlantic Sun Conference
American Athletic
Conference Ivy League
Southern Conference
Mid-American Conference
Sun Belt Conference
Atlantic 10 Conference
Big West Conference
Mountain West Conference
Big East Conference
Missouri Valley Conference
Atlantic Coast Conference
Southeastern Conference
Big 12 Conference
West Coast Conference
Big Ten Conference
Pac-12 Conference
And it is, to be sure, humble beginnings. The America East is not a bastion of volleyball. Its member institutions tend to do best at sports like lacrosse and ice hockey (not sponsored by the America East itself, but most of its member institutions do field teams). Only one America East team finished their season above. 500 last year, and the conference was represented by Binghamton in the NCAA tournament, who lost to top-seeded Penn State by a rather ugly (25-11, 25-3, 25-9) count. But I'm sure they were happy just to make it that far, as they were only the #3 seed in the America East conference tournament and had to turn a couple of minor upsets just to make the NCAA tourney.
Like just about every conference, the America East experience a change in membership ahead of the 2013-2014 year. They lose Boston University to the Patriot League. This has only an indirect effect on volleyball — BU do not sponsor the sport, but the Terriers' de-facto replacements, the UMass Lowell River Hawks, do. UML begin their transition from NCAA Division II this year, and will not be postseason-eligible until 2017. It's curious to me how schools transitioning from NAIA status are postseason-ineligible for just their first year (like California Baptist and Lindenwood in men's volleyball, notably), but schools changing NCAA Divisions have to sit out 4 seasons of postseason play. I get that it's to disincentivise such movements, by 'locking' schools out of a chance to make the basketball tournaments (and get some of that sweet, sweet revenue), but it still seems a little excessive, especially in that it applies to all sports. But, those are the rules.
The River Hawks join six of the America East's remaining full-time members and associate members Providence College to form the conference. This will likely be Providence's final season in the America East. The new Big East is expected to draw up bylaws requiring member institutions to participate in Big East play if they sponsor the sport in question (lots of conferences have such a bylaw). That bylaw process will probably span the 2013-2014 college season, meaning they'll have to join their primary conference for volleyball play come season after this coming. I'm honestly not sure how Providence wound up in the America East to begin with, but it looks like it'll ultimately be a temporary arrangement.
Here's how the conference standings looked at the end of last season:
1. Albany 10-2 (14-15)
2. UMBC 8-4 (15-15)
3. Binghamton 8-4 (13-18)
4. New Hampshire 7-5 (15-14)
5. Stony Brook 6-6 (11-14)
6. Hartford 3-9 (9-19)
7. Providence 0-12 (1-30)
And some observations on each team (class listings are for the upcoming season, not the past season) 
The Great Danes look to return a pretty solid core, having lost only two seniors off last year's squad. Traci Vandegrift was third on the team in kills per set, which is nice, but probably replaceable. Gabby Whitworth was listed as middle blocker-stroke-opposite but actually led the team in set assists, so that strikes me as a skillset that's a little harder to replace (no real standout numbers in any area, but solid contributions all around). Albany have signed three players for 2013, the foremost of whom would appear to be 6-foot-2 middle blocker Chavi St. Hill, who is expected to compete for a starting position this year. Among the returners are junior outside hitter Sara Pope, who led the team in scoring last year, and regular libero Viktoriia Stroilo, the only player to play in every match and set for the Great Danes. Setter looks to be something of a question mark, as there were four setters listed on the roster last year and only one got anything near what I would call significant playing time (that being Sofia Furlong), but it really was the now-departed Whitworth who ran the offence as setter most of the season. Someone will have to step up there.
The Retrievers of Maryland-Baltimore County likewise return a lot of their roster from a year ago, graduating two seniors who respectively played in 23 and 12 of the team's 30 matches in 2012. They boast a pair of European imports for the 2012 season — Ivana Kostic from Serbia, a 6-foot-2 middle-stroke-right side, and Zoya Trendafilova from Bulgaria, who has played all 'offensive' positions. Both have extensive European club experience, something head coach Ian Blanchard notes as a factor that will help enhance those around them. The team's foremost returner is probably junior outside hitter Hannah Schmidt, who played in every match for the Retrievers a year ago, leading the team in total kills, service aces, and digs. Senior middle blocker Emily Witsaman posted more than a block a set in slightly limited playing time (don't know if maybe she had an injury) to lead the conference, working alongside sophomore middle Krystal Mlemchukwu. The Retrievers led the conference in blocks as a team. Along with Schmidt, two other players played every match and set for the Retrievers in 2012, namely senior outside hitter Hallie Carter and Ali Goc, a senior-to-be who is likewise listed at outside hitter, but played at libero in 2012. Senior setter Mallory McIntyre led the conference in assists per set a year ago.
The America East's erstwhile 2012 NCAA tournament representatives, who seemed to anticipate their fate, graduated two seniors of their 2012 roster just as Albany and UMBC. These, however, were two players who played (started, in fact) in every match and every set in 2012. So I think it's a little bit more of a hit. Iva Partaleva led the conference in total kills a year ago, and Alex Roland was second in the conference in attack percentage. So those are important pieces to replace, and are also reason to be bearish (no pun intended) on the team's fortunes going forward. They've got four incoming freshmen, three of whom figure to eventually settle in as back-row specialists while 6-foot-1 middle blocker Bianca Anderson immediately slots in as the team's tallest player. The foremost returner for the Bearcats is junior setter Amanda Dettmann, the America East Setter of the Year for 2012 who led the conference in total set assists and only narrowly missed top honours in assists per set. The top returning scorer is junior outside hitter Kristin Hovie, whose younger sister Allison is one of the aforementioned incoming freshmen. Binghamton were statistically the conference's best hitting team a year ago, but they look to be in a bit of flux going into 2013.
UNH were the fourth and final playoff team from the America East a year ago. Following the theme, they graduate — you guessed it! — two seniors off their 2012 roster, setter Jansan Falcusan and libero Jessie Schnepp. Schnepp was a starter the whole season and will need to be replaced, but Falcusan was only a regular for around a third of the year, missing some time with injuries. The bulk of the setting was done by junior-to-be Taylor Dunklau, who managed fourth in the conference in assists per set (right in line with the team's ranking). Senior opposite Morgan Thatcher, the Wildcats' 2012 MVP, led the team in scoring and was second in blocking a year ago, and will look to improve even more on her counting stats in 2013. Sophomores Cassidy Croci and Abigail Brinkman have led the team in spring play. Opposite hitter Destiny Tolliver and outside hitter Victoria Forrest, senior and sophomore respectively, round out the count of players who were in every match last season. This looks to be a team on the rise. Libero is probably the position that's the easiest to replace, at least from a statistical standpoint, and with junior Sam Henke playing every match and set in 2012 as a DS, the Wildcats are probably covered there just fine.
The Stony Brook Seawolves ran a pretty stifling defence in 2012, leading the conference in hitting percentage against at just .174. They had just one senior a year ago (combo breaker!), though two players have left the team. This is surely at least indirectly attributable to a change in head coaching, as Coley Pawlikowski assumes the reigns (and, interestingly, her husband Dan is an assistant coach….bet their meeting story involves the game!) as first-year head coach. Any overview of Stony Brook volleyball has to start with sophomore outside hitter Melissa Rigo, who led the conference in kills per set a year ago. And it wasn't close. She was nearly a full kill per set better than Iva Partaleva, and in fact had only 5 fewer total kills despite playing 25 fewer sets (Stony Brook played 25 fewer sets than Binghamton). Middle blocker Evann Slaughter finished second in the league in blocks per set a year ago, and eighth in kills. The setter position is well-manned (womanned?), with Nicole Vogel returning from her freshman campaign a year ago. The team tout Cailyn Hart, a back-row specialist, as their prized recruit, but chances are she redshirts this year. Three upperclassmen — Hailee Herc, Nicole Parkas, and Laura Hathaway, the first two of whom got regular 2012 playing time — look to be ahead of her on the ol' depth chart. Along with Rigo and Slaughter, 6-foot-2 sophomore middle blocker Stephanie McFadden also played every match for the Seawolves a year ago, returning with experience that will no doubt prove valuable.
Hartford will have the most experienced team in the league in 2013, that is beyond question. With just one departing senior, outside hitter Kami Nethersole (sounds like a name Tolkien would come up with), the Hawks will have a whopping six seniors on their 2013 team. Of the six, four look to be likely starters — libero Saara Carissimi (yes, I know liberos aren't actually starters, shut up), outside hitter Dionna Kirton, outside hitter Taylor McCreery (curiously listed at OH/DS, but her 5'11" frame probably pencils her into the offensive role) and middle blocker Lindsay Anderson. All played either 27 or all 28 of Hartford's matches a year ago. Kami's younger sister Sareeta Nethersole will probably fill her shoes to some degree. She's listed at 'UH,' which I guess means Utility Hitter. Never seen that before. The Nethersoles' high school teammate Jackie Tamburri will run the offence as setter.
The Providence Friars had a rough go of it in 2012. There's no getting around it, and if that's not the polite way of saying it, then there is no polite way of saying it. Part of their problem was their roster, as they had only ten girls on their team a year ago (can you imagine a football or baseball team playing with only four over the bare minimum needed to field a team at all?). Even with such a compact team photo, they do still lose one player to graduation, that being libero Cassie Muzzonigro. To their credit, the Friars have added a five-person incoming recruit class, and it's possible they'll all see solid playing time in 2013. I hesitate to say anything in particular about this team, because hardly anything at all went their way in 2012 (Colleen McCollom's fifth in the conference in service aces is about the only even remotely bright spot on their 2012 stat sheet), and a lot of that can surely be traced directly back to the small roster. Which probably has its own causes. This is a team that needs to build some confidence, and they may just get the opportunity this year.
The River Hawks did play in a fairly good conference for Division II volleyball last year. The Northeast 10 (who are sorta like the Atlantic 10 at the D-I level, they've got 16 members) got three NCAA tournament bids. But still, UML went 11-14 and 6-9 in league (10th of 16) against Division II competition, meaning you can't figure them to make a great deal of noise in their first Division I campaign this coming season. They return a lot of their roster, graduating a setter and a DS (their stat book is very difficult to read and makes it hard to tell exactly who was a starter a season ago), but there can be no mistaking that the first year at a new level will make for a challenging season.
The verdict?
It's not like the national champion is all of a sudden going to come out of this conference, but I'm happy to spend a little time discussing these teams. TNS' scientific-wild-ass-guess (hereafter, SWAG):
1. UMBC
2. New Hampshire
3. Albany
4. Stony Brook
5. Binghamton
6. Hartford
7. Providence
8. UMass Lowell
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