GORHAM, Maine – The Little East Conference announced the results of its annual preseason coaches' poll for women's volleyball on Tuesday afternoon with the University of Southern Maine placing seventh with 20 points. UMass Dartmouth took the top spot with 64 points and eight first-place votes followed by UMass Boston with 55 points and a single first-place vote. Third place went to Western Connecticut State with 48 points.
 
Key returners for the Southern Maine squad include sophomores Macie Ahmer (Lake Villa, Ill./Grayslake North) and Ella Koehler (Pickerington, Ohio/Fairfield Christian Academy).
 
Ahmer ranked fourth in the conference in assists in assists per set (6.78) last season and sixth in total assists (563). She also tied for the most aces on the team with 41 and ranked seventh in the conference. She placed third on the team in digs in 198. Koehler ranked third on the team in points with 205.5 and kills with 170 last year and has the most among team's returners. Her season stat line also included 133 digs, 26 aces, 16 total blocks and 16 assists.
 
Head coach Diane Newell, now in her 12th season leading the Huskies, has also brought a large class of newcomers including a few well-experienced transfer students in graduate student Alondra Lopez-Aquino (Los Angeles, Cali./St. Monica Catholic) and juniors Alicia Beatty (Rochester, N.H./Spaulding) and Kylee Eubanks-Hemme (Rosamond, Cali.).
 
Lopez-Aquino played three seasons at UMaine Presque Isle and led her team in kills (213) and aces (59) in 2023. Beatty, who played two seasons at Simmons University, has reunited with her sister Amelia Beatty (Rochester, N.H./Spaulding). The returning Beatty has played in 54 matches in her USM career while the newcomer played in 40 matches in her two seasons at Simmons. Eubanks-Hemme switches coasts after two years at Antelope Valley College of the California Community College Athletic Association. She was a two-time All-Western State Conference performer at Antelope Valley with first team honors in 2024 and a second team nod in 2023.
 
The Huskies begin the 2025 season with a two-day event at the University of New England. The team will face Saint Joseph's College of Maine at 5:30 pm on Friday, August 29 before playing UNE at 10:00 am the next day followed by a final match against Maine Maritime Academy at 2:00 pm.
 

2025 Little East Conference Women's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll (FPV)
1.	UMass Dartmouth	64 points	8
2.	UMass Boston	55 points	1
3.	Western Connecticut	48 points
4.	Plymouth State	42 points
5.	Eastern Connecticut	40 points
6.	Keene State	27 points
7.	Southern Maine	20 points
8.	Rhode Island College	17 points
9.	VTSU Castleton	11 points