TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - The Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) is set to begin its 24th championship sport this spring with the debut of men's volleyball. Hiram College was predicted to finish first in the conference's first-ever preseason poll in the sport, per voting of the conference's head coaches. The poll, as well as a Players to Watch list, was released Thursday afternoon.

The PAC Presidents' Council unanimously approved the addition of men's volleyball in December of 2022 and seven schools will compete in this first season as a conference championship sport. Four programs, Geneva College, Hiram, Saint Vincent College and Thiel College, competed in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) as associate members previously, while Bethany College and Chatham University played their first varsity seasons last spring as NCAA independents. Grove City College is the seventh PAC program, as the Wolverines elevated the college's previous club program to varsity status beginning this year.

In addition to being the first year of men's volleyball in the PAC, this is also the first season Hiram is competing in the PAC once again. Previously a member from 1971 through the spring of 1989, the PAC announced in April, 2024 that Hiram would be leaving the North Coast Athletic Conference to rejoin the conference. The Terriers are competing in men's wrestling and men's volleyball this year before starting full PAC competition in the 2025-26 academic year.

The Terriers will enter their initial men's volleyball campaign as the preseason favorite after gathering four first-place votes and 34 points. Hiram, who will be led by first-year head coach Tyler North this spring, left the AMCC as 2024 champions. After posting an 8-1 conference record in the regular season to earn the second seed for the AMCC Tournament, the Terriers swept Thiel in the semifinals and top-seed Saint Vincent in the championship game to win their second AMCC Tournament title. It also clinched a second berth in the NCAA Tournament for Hiram, who dropped their opening round match to second-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology to finish the season with a 20-12 record. 

Thiel finished second in the preseason poll after collecting three first-place votes and 32 points. Fifth-year head coach Dylan Lasher, who has five seniors and seven juniors back for 2025, guided the Tomcats to a 13-13 record a season ago and their second consecutive appearance in the AMCC Tournament semifinals. Third place in this year's poll went to Saint Vincent, who totaled 26 points. Fourth-year head coach Kate McCauley was last season's AMCC Coach of the Year after leading the Bearcats to their most successful year in program history, which included a 9-0 league record during the regular season, a school-record 19 overall wins and their first-ever postseason appearance after reaching the ECAC Tournament semifinals.

Entering their first varsity season, Grove City posted 21 points to place fourth in the poll. In fifth place with 15 points is Geneva, who went 17-16 last year and reached the AMCC Tournament quarterfinals. Rounding out the poll was Chatham (13), who was 6-14 in their first year last spring, and Bethany (six), who brought in nine freshmen to play in the Bison's second season of competition.

The Players to Watch list features nine players who earned All-AMCC accolades last spring, including both major award winners. Saint Vincent junior outside hitter Shawn McSwiggen was the league's Player of the Year, while Geneva sophomore outside hitter Owen Kelley was chosen as the Newcomer of the Year.

McSwiggen, who was also the AMCC Newcomer of the Year in 2023, added the Player of the Year award to his collection after leading the conference with 377 kills, averaging 3.85 kills and 4.6 points per set. A strong player through the entire rotation, he was also third with 38 aces, seventh in hitting percentage (.283) and eighth in the digs (226) and solo blocks (27). 

The Newcomer of the Year honor went to Kelley after he led Geneva and placed third in the league with 325 kills, ranked 10th in kills per set (2.71) and tied for fifth with 36 aces.

Hiram's top hitter from their championship run is back this year as a Player to Watch. Senior middle blocker Kyle Martini was a First Team All-AMCC selection after he posted 304 kills to rank fourth in the conference, was fifth averaging 3.8 points per set and registered 70 total blocks, good for seventh in the league.

The Players to Watch list also includes eight players who made the AMCC Academic All-Conference team, including six who earned 3.5 GPAs or higher. 

The league’s regular season concludes Saturday, April 5th with the six-team PAC Championship Tournament scheduled to get underway Tuesday, April 8th. The title match is slated for Saturday, April 12th. The top two seeds will receive quarterfinal byes and all tournament matches will be hosted by the higher seed. The PAC Tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, with the Tournament field set to be announced on Monday, April 14th.

 

2025 PAC Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll (Predicted order of finish)
School (first-place votes)	Points	2024 record
1. Hiram College (4)	34	20-12 (8-1 AMCC)
2. Thiel College (3)	32	13-13 (6-3 AMCC)
3. Saint Vincent College	26	19-9 (9-0 AMCC)
4. Grove City College	21	First varsity season
5. Geneva College	15	17-16 (5-4 AMCC)
6. Chatham University	13	6-14
7. Bethany College	6	0-26

2025 PAC Men's Volleyball Players to Watch

Bethany College
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown | High School
Riley Burdett	Fr.	OH	Jefferson Hills, Pa./Thomas Jefferson
McKay Ginez	So.	MB	Santa Maria, Calif./Pioneer Valley
Alexander Hall	Fr.	RS	Fairfax Station, Va./South County
Logan Mills	Fr.	S	Barie North, Ontario/Eastview Secondary School
Cole Thomas	Fr.	L	Lindside, W.Va./James Monroe

 

Chatham University
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Tim McCabe	So.	RS	North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin
RJ Nagg	FY	S	Erie, Pa./McDowell
Logan Pack	FY	OH	Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin
Ben Shelestak	So.	OH	Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel

 

Geneva College
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Joshua Sangrey (1)	Sr.	L	Landisburg, Pa./Homeschool
Owen Kelley (3)	So.	OH	Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield

 

Grove City College
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Craig Fair	So.	S	Stevens, Pa./Cocalico
Max Gianneski	So.	OH	Butler, Pa./Butler
Andrew Kessler	So.	MB	Jeannette, Pa./Penn Trafford
Ben McVey	Fr.	L	Midlothian, Va./Cosby
Quinton Norris	Sr.	RS	Savannah, NY/North-Rose

 

Hiram College
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Matt Albano (2)	Sr.	S	Huntington Beach, Calif./Servite
Jackson Deubner (2)	Sr.	OH	Columbus, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln
Kyle Martini (1)	Sr.	MB	Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley
Garrett Scheidegger (3)	Sr.	MB	Somerset, Calif./Union Mine

   

Saint Vincent College
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Rocco Marino	So.	MH	Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe
Shawn McSwiggen (1)	Jr.	RS	Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson
Zeb Wyant (3)	Jr.	OH	Martinsburg, Pa./Central

   

Thiel College
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown/High School
David Gonzalez	Sr.	L	El Paso, Texas/Eastwood
Ben Lowell	So.	S	Portland, Ore./Sunset
Ezra Oesterling	Fr.	OH	Shelocta, Pa./West Shamokin
Kaleb Proudfoot (2)	Jr.	MB	Butler, Pa./Butler
Will Zimmerman	Jr.	OH	Cranberry Twp, Pa./Seneca Valley