The Iona College volleyball team made major strides in 2017, finishing 11-7 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and making an appearance in the conference championship game. Iona didn’t claim the conference title, as the Gaels fell to Fairfield in three sets.

Iona entered the 2018 season with the potential to build off of last season. The Gaels have returning key players from last year’s team, while adding a few freshmen. Head Coach Patric Santiago, who is in his third year with the program, wants to make sure the Gaels continue to work hard and stick with the process.

“Well, we try not to define our worth as a program,” Santiago said. “We try to focus on our process every day. It worked out well for us last year. So we [are] kind of doubling down, trusting some more and working hard.”

Iona is ranked second in the MAAC preseason coaches’ poll behind Fairfield. Santiago is fortunate and humble to be in that position. However, he doesn’t want to focus too much based on those rankings.

“We have to realize that they don’t hand out rings for preseason,” Santiago said. “It’s a great honor to be respected by our peers, but we don’t put a lot of stock in the preseason rankings.”

Senior outside hitter Claire Archibald, who was named the conference preseason co-player of the year, has become one of the best attackers and all-around players in the MAAC. She has not only evolved as a student athlete, but also as a leader for her team.

“[Archibald] makes steps every day in training,” Santiago said. “She did a great job her sophomore and junior year cleaning up technical situations in her game.”

Santiago praises Archibald for becoming mentally tougher and constantly working on her game.

“The leaps that she’s made…are phenomenal and echoed on everyone else on the team,” Santiago said. “Claire gets a lot of recognition, but there is probably no one in the league that is in her class that has put in the same amount of work that she has done.”

Sophomore Jamie Smith, who was named the 2017 MAAC Rookie of the Year, took the conference by storm. Smith, a setter and right side hitter for the Gaels, not only played tremendous offense by averaging 2.5 kills a game, but played aggressive defense by tallying 89 blocks in her rookie year.

“[Smith] is tremendously diverse so we can use her in different places, but I think people are on to her game and have some game plans for her. The conference has a new film program that is going to show what she does,” Santiago said. “It’s awesome to see her be challenged and have to find a response.”

Iona has played in two tournaments, the Eastern Illinois Tournament and the Dog Pound Challenge. Both tournaments gave Iona a taste of what to expect this season.

“Nothing is going to be easy this year,” Santiago said. “We are going to have to earn everything we get. We are not blessed with exceptional talent and there [is] some stuff that we don’t have. We are going to have to be hardworking people in order to achieve success.”

The Gaels, who currently support a 2-3 record, will play their next game against Central Connecticut at home on Sept. 12.