The Dragons received 22 points and three first-place votes in the GMAC Preseason poll, the same number of points as Findlay but one more first-place nod than the Oilers. Hillsdale came in third with 19 points and one first-place vote, followed by Walsh (13 pts), Cedarville (9 pts), and Kentucky Wesleyan (5 pts).
Coach Conley, who was named GMAC Coach of the Year in 2019, has high hopes for his returners this year: "Our key returners are largely our captains, Nikita Parfenov and Austin Mohamedali. Nikita had a great fall season prior to an injury that sidelined him for a bit. Even though he was injured, he was a great mentor to our freshmen and provided key contributions on the court during practices and our conditioning. Austin Mohamedali is a player that I have tremendous respect for due to his work ethic. He got a lot of playing time last year, but we will be counting on him even more this season.
"Hugo Chatras and Gabriel de Oliveira are also going to be huge factors this year too. After a slow start to the fall, Gabe and Hugo won the 'A Flight' in doubles at the University of Northwestern Invitational and Hugo won his individual flight too. I am excited about the progress of Ben Szarek and Caleb Carter as well. Both these guys take their game seriously and I see them making an impact both this year and next year."
When asked about his upcoming goals for the season, Coach Conley said: "Certainly a tough question as we won the conference last year, but one thing you can never do in coaching is not to have objectives for your season. We missed the NCAA tournament by one spot last year. We have goals of defending our conference title and going a bit further by making the NCAA tournament. We are currently 10th in the region and are looking to capitalize on this opportunity this season."
Conference play begins on March 28 with a road match at Findlay, with the GMAC Championship scheduled to take place on April 24-25. Information on that and more can be found here.