BRIDGEPORT — Wheeling University and the University of Charleston are the Mountain East Conference divisional favorites for the upcoming season, the league announced Monday. 

The preseason poll results were compiled via a vote of the conference’s 11 head coaches.

Wheeling, which has won or shared the MEC North Division title in all 12 years of the conference’s existence, received nine first-place votes. The Cardinals finished 27-11 overall and 12-2 in MEC play last season, and advanced to the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Championship before falling to top seed Gannon. 

Charleston received seven first-place votes to lead the MEC South Division. The Golden Eagles are coming off of a 25-8 season, including a 12-3 record in conference play. UC finished second to West Virginia State in the South last season, and fell to Wheeling in the MEC Volleyball Championship semifinals. 

In the North Division, Wheeling is followed in the preseason poll by Fairmont State, West Liberty, Frostburg State, and Point Park. Fairmont State and West Liberty each received a first-place vote. In the South Division, UC is followed by West Virginia State, Concord, West Virginia Wesleyan, Glenville State, and Davis & Elkins. 

West Virginia State is the reigning South Division and ended Wheeling’s run of MEC Volleyball Championships in tournament play. The Yellow Jackets beat the Cardinals, 3-1, to earn the MEC’s automatic berth to the NCAA Division II tournament. WVSU has won back-to-back South Division titles under two different head coaches — 2023 MEC Coach of the Year Hillary Hurley and 2024 MEC Coach of the Year Avery Moore — and will have Shannon Gerencir back at the helm this season. Gerencir previously coached the Yellow Jackets from 2002 to 2015, winning 207 games and two Coach of the Year honors. 

The 2025 MEC volleyball season is set to begin with non-conference action on Thursday, Sept. 5.

* Coaches not permitted to vote for own team