LEXINGTON, KY – Following its second Final Four appearance in 2024, the Johns Hopkins Women's Volleyball team opens the 2025 season ranked No. 4 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Preseason Poll, released Tuesday. The No. 4 ranking ties the highest preseason rank in program history, originally set just last season.
Three-time defending national champion Juniata tops the poll after receiving 79 first-place votes. Wisconsin-Whitewater, the 2024 national runner-up, ranks second, followed by fellow Final Four participant Hope in third. Hopkins rounds out the top four.
Other familiar names in the top 10 include Emory, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, La Verne and Washington & Lee—all of whom reached the Elite Eight last season.
With eight newcomers on the roster, the Blue Jays will ease into the 2025 campaign with six early-season matches before facing a high-stakes stretch. That week features back-to-back showdowns against No. 18 Ithaca and No. 8 MIT, followed by a trip north for the Wid Guisler Invitational. There, Hopkins will face top-ranked Juniata and No. 21 Christopher Newport.
In total, the Blue Jays' schedule includes five additional opponents currently receiving votes in the AVCA poll: Babson, Carnegie Mellon, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, and Wesleyan.
2025 AVCA Preseason Poll Top 10
1. Juniata (79 first-place votes) – 2,133
2. Wisconsin-Whitewater (4 first-place votes) – 1,965
3. Hope – 1,889
4. Johns Hopkins (3 first-place votes) – 1,841
5. Emory – 1,738
6. Wisconsin-Oshkosh – 1,699
7. La Verne – 1,608
8. MIT – 1,403
9. Washington & Lee – 1,294
10. Trinity (TX) – 1,213
