Boise State’s Paige Bartsch named the league’s Preseason Player of the Year
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Colorado State Rams were selected as the preseason favorite as voted on by the league’s 11 head coaches.
The Rams collected eight first-place votes. The Green and Gold finished the 2023 season with a 19-12 overall record and a 12-6 mark in Conference action and were the MW tournament runners-up, taking Fresno State to a thrilling fifth set in the Championship match.
Utah State received two of the three remaining first-place votes and is second in the preseason poll, followed by Boise State in third and Fresno State in fourth. UNLV tallied the final first-place vote while sitting in fifth place, with Wyoming following in sixth to round out the top half of the poll. Filling out the bottom half is San Diego State in seventh, New Mexico in eighth, San José State in ninth, Air Force in 10th and Nevada in 11th.
Boise State senior Paige Bartsch was selected as the 2024 Preseason Player of the Year. The opposite hitter led the Mountain West in 2023 in kills (530), kills per set (5.05), service aces (52), total points (614.5) and points per set (5.85). The 2023 MW Co-Player of the Year garnered AVCA All-American Honorable Mention recognition following the regular season and is a two-time All-Mountain West team member. She collected three MW Player of the Week nods during the 2023 season.
Joining Bartsch on the All-MW Preseason Team are Colorado State’s Emery Herman and Malaya Jones, 2023 MW Freshman of the Year and the team’s designated libero Dionii Fraga, San Diego State’s Taylor Underwood and Utah State’s Tierney Barlow and Adna Mehmedovic.
The 2024 nonconference schedule is set to start on Aug. 30 at 9:30 a.m. MT with New Mexico facing Tulane on the Mountain West Network, which is available on the MWN app, Apple TV, Amazon Firestick, Android TV or online. For a look at the complete 2024 Mountain West Volleyball schedule visit themw.com.
MW Preseason Player of the Year
Paige Bartsch, Sr., OPP, Boise State
| MW Preseason Team |
|||
| Player | Class | Pos. | School |
| Paige Bartsch | Sr. | OPP | Boise State |
| Emery Herman | Sr. | S | Colorado State |
| Malaya Jones | Sr. | OPP | Colorado State |
| Dionii Fraga | So. | L | Fresno State |
| Taylor Underwood | Jr. | OPP | San Diego State |
| Tierney Barlow | Jr. | MB | Utah State |
| Adna Mehmedovic | Sr. | OPP | Utah State |
| Preseason Coaches Poll (1st Place Votes) | ||
| 1. | Colorado State (8) | 98 |
| 2. | Utah State (2) | 84 |
| 3. | Boise State | 77 |
| 4. | Fresno State | 71 |
| 5. | UNLV (1) | 65 |
| 6. | Wyoming | 56 |
| 7. | San Diego State | 47 |
| 8. | New Mexico | 39 |
| 9. | San José State | 32 |
| 10. | Air Force | 25 |
| 11. | Nevada | 12 |
