SAN BRUNO, Calif. — We are now less than 10 days out from the official start of the 2025 Saint Mary's Volleyball campaign, and with the season just around the corner, the WCC has announced their preseason coaches poll and all-conference team. The Gaels enter the season picked to finish sixth in the WCC, while redshirt senior outside hitter Genevieve Bane has been named to the WCC Preseason All-Conference list for the third consecutive season. 

A season ago, the Gaels finished in ninth place in a then 11 team WCC, however, recharged with a new coaching staff, and a recruiting class of 10 newcomers, Saint Mary's caught the attention of many other WCC coaches, earning the rank of sixth in the preseason WCC coaches poll. Over the past five seasons, the Gaels have never finished more than two spots above or below their preseason coaches poll rank, but have aspirations to break that trend this year, looking to be in the mix for a conference title. 

For the third straight season, Genevieve Bane has been named to the preseason all-conference team. Now in her fifth year with the program, Bane has tallied at least 200 kills in each of the last three seasons, and set career-high marks for kills (344), kills per set (3.51), attack percentage (0.231) and digs (194). Entering her redshirt senior campaign, Bane looks to be a unifying force on a team with a solid balance of newcomers and returners. 

First year Head Coach Tyler Hilderbrand commented on the preseason ranking of his program in this week's press conference (see below).



Here is a look at the complete preseason poll and all-conference team:

2025 West Coast Conference Volleyball Preseason Coaches Poll
Team (first-place votes) points
1. San Diego (10) 120
2. Pepperdine (2) 107
3. LMU 97
4. Oregon State 86
     Washington State 86
6. Saint Mary's 72
7. Pacific 51
8. San Francisco 50
9. Santa Clara 44
10. Portland 39
11. Gonzaga 28
12. Seattle 12
 
2025 West Coast Conference Volleyball Preseason Team
Genevieve Bane, Saint Mary's
Nemo Beach, San Diego
Lucie Blazková, Washington State
Isabel Clark, San Diego
Sjakkie Donkers, Gonzaga
Kali Engeman, San Diego
Grace Flanagan, Santa Clara
Annika Hester, Oregon State
Taina Kaauwai, Portland
Kylie Munday, San Diego
Kennedy Osunsanmi, San Diego
Ella Piskorz, Pepperdine
Vanessa Polk, Pepperdine
Iva Popovic, Pepperdine
Maui Robins, Portland
Lauren Rumel, Oregon State

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