Courtesy of ECC Athletics

Colonia, N.J. (1/6/25) The defending champion St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans have been predicted to win the 2025 ECC Men's Volleyball Championship, as voted on by the league's four head coaches and announced on Monday afternoon. In that same vote, STAC sophomore outside hitter Kyran Versteegen (Sittard, Netherlands) is the unanimous selection for ECC Preseason Player of the Year. 

With 15 points and three first-place votes, the ECC defending champion St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans top the preseason poll. STAC went 11-12 overall and 5-1 in league play to claim the ECC's inaugural Regular Season Championship last spring. The Spartans went on to defeat American International, 3-1, and Dominican, 3-2, to claim the ECC's inaugural championship tournament title and return ECC Setter of the Year Joaquin La Jara, All-ECC selection Gabriel Vieira, and Versteegen from that squad. 

Coming off of a freshman campaign in which he was voted the ECC Player of the Year and ECC Championship Most Outstanding Player and a summer in which he competed with the Dutch National Team, Versteegen is the unanimous selection for this season's ECC Preseason Player of the Year. In the ECC rankings, Versteegen finished second in total points (287), points per set (3.68), total kills (227), and hitting percentage (.269), third in kills per set (2.91), service aces (33), and service aces per set (.42), and sixth in total blocks (46). 

In conference-only matches, the two-time ECC Player of the Week and three-time ECC Rookie of the Week topped all players with a blistering .395 hitting percentage as well as 104 total points, 4.73 points per set, 12 service aces, and .55 service aces per set.

Returning all five of their 2024 All-ECC selections in Paul Fillion, Jonah Grbic, Moises Jimenez, Noah Liousfi, and Griffin Monrad, Roberts Wesleyan earned 10 points in the preseason voting. Middle/outside hitter Fillion and opposite hitter Monrad topped the ECC in hitting percentage (.340) and service aces per set (.49), respectively, while Jimenez is the returning ECC Libero of the Year after leading the league with 193 digs and 2.68 digs per set. The Redhawks went 8-16 overall and 3-3 in the ECC last spring. 

Dominican, who battled STAC in the inaugural ECC Championship Final back in April, finished just one point behind Roberts Wesleyan in the preseason voting with nine points and one first-place vote. Libero Tyler Roukey, who ranked second in the league in total digs (168) and digs per set (2.21), returns to lead the Chargers, who finished 12-13 overall and 3-3 in the ECC a season ago.

American International rounds out the preseason voting with six points. 2024 All-ECC outside hitter Robert Santana, who ranked second in the league in total kills (223) and kills per set (3.28), returns to lead the Yellow Jackets, who finished 2-19 and 1-5 in conference play last spring.

Roberts Wesleyan kicks off the 2025 season on Tuesday, January 7 against St. John Fisher, while St. Thomas Aquinas heads to Brigham Young on Friday, January 10. American International opens up against Sage the following Wednesday, January 15 while Dominican follows up the next night, Thursday, January 16, against Barry.

2025 ECC Men's Volleyball Preseason Poll
1. St. Thomas Aquinas - 15 points (3 first-place votes)
2. Roberts Wesleyan - 10 points
3. Dominican - 9 points (1 first-place vote)
4. American International - 6 points

2025 ECC Men's Volleyball Preseason Player of the Year
Kyran Versteegen, St. Thomas Aquinas, So., OH