SAN MATEO, Calif. — With the Gaels landing safely in Laramie, Wyoming in advance of their first matches of the year, one of their Gaels adds another honor to her name. Elena Baka has been named to the preseason All-WCC team for the second straight year, as announced by the West Coast Conference on Wednesday morning. In conjunction with the release, the Gaels were selected sixth in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll, as voted on exclusively by the conference's head coaches.
 
Baka was stellar for Saint Mary's in the spring, leading the way in multiple categories en route to honorable mention All-WCC honors. Baka finished with 194 kills on the season to lead Saint Mary's, while racking up 3.08 kills per set. She was also the team leader in service aces with 25, and finished second on the team with 161 digs, just three back of the team-best. 11 times on the season, Baka finished with ten or more kills, including in each of the last five matches of the year. She tied career-bests twice in kills with 17 against LMU (Jan. 27) and Santa Clara (Mar. 18). Her kills total ranked 11^th in the conference, and her 25 aces were good for fourth-best overall.
 
Following the indoor and beach season, Baka went back home to Greece and played for the Greece national beach volleyball team in the CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup, where Greece reached the semifinals. Had Greece won the Cup, they would have traveled to Tokyo for the Olympics.
 
Most of the members that comprise this year's preseason All-WCC list come from the three top teams in the conference: BYU (5), Pepperdine (4), and San Diego (2). Those three teams make up 11 of the 16 spots, and that should come as no surprise, considering all three teams are ranked inside the top-25 in the NCAA. LMU lands two players on the list as well, while Saint Mary's, Gonzaga, and Santa Clara each have one apiece.
 
BYU claims the top spot in the Preseason Coaches Poll, taking home nine of the first-place votes. BYU begins the season ranked #15 in the NCAA, where they landed to concluded the spring season. San Diego is second in the WCC poll, with Pepperdine and LMU rounding out the top-four. San Diego finds themselves ranked #20 in the NCAA, and Pepperdine is #22. The Gaels are sixth, behind Santa Clara and ahead of Gonzaga.
 
2021 WCC Volleyball Preseason Poll

Place	Team	First Place	Points
1.	BYU	9	81
2.	San Diego	1	70
3.	Pepperdine		68
4.	LMU		57
5.	Santa Clara		49
6.	Saint Mary's		38
7.	Gonzaga		29
8.	Pacific		27
9.	San Francisco		19
10.	Portland		12

 

2021 All-WCC Volleyball First Team
Name	Institution	Yr.	Pos.
Rachel Ahrens	Pepperdine	Jr.	OH/OPP
Taylen Ballard-Nixon	BYU	Sr.*	OH
Elena Baka	Saint Mary's	Jr.	OH
Whitney Bower	BYU	So.	S
Meg Brown	Pepperdine	Fr.	MB
Kennedy Eschenberg	BYU	Sr.*	MB
Grace Frohling	San Diego	So.	OPP/S
Kari Geissberger	LMU	Fr.	OH
Heather Gneiting	BYU	Jr.	MB
Kate Grimmer	BYU	So.	OPP
Alyssa Hughes	Gonzaga	Jr.	MB
Katie Lukes	San Diego	Sr.	OH
Megan Rice	LMU	Sr.	OH
Madison Shields	Pepperdine	Sr.	LIB
Julia Sangiacomo	Santa Clara	So.	OH
Isabel Zelaya	Pepperdine	So.	S/OPP

 
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