NEW ORLEANS (JMU Athletics) – James Madison volleyball was voted as the East Division favorite, while Kennedy Louisell was named the Sun Belt Conference Preseason Player of the Year, the league announced on Wednesday afternoon.
JMU was chosen as the favorite in the East Division with 12 first-place votes for 95 points, with Georgia Southern picking up the two remaining first-place votes for 84 points and second in the division. In the West, 2025 Sun Belt Champion Arkansas State also notched 12 first-place votes for 95 points. South Alabama (2nd – 79 points) and Southern Miss (3rd – 64 points) each received one vote for the top spot in the league.
Joining Louisell on the Preseason All-Sun Belt team was junior middle blocker Ayen Nhial. Louisell, the reigning Sun Belt Player of the Year, returns for her second season at JMU following a historic 2025 campaign, while Nhial enters her third year with the Dukes after a Second Team All-Sun Belt nod last year.
Along with her Sun Belt Player of the Year honor in 2025, Louisell was the Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year and a First Team All-Conference selection. Following the season, she added AVCA Honorable Mention and All-Region honors, becoming the fourth JMU player in program history to be named an All-American.
Louisell finished the 2025 season fourth in the nation with 605 kills – a JMU Division I single-season record. Additionally, the Grand Rapids, Mich. native tallied a remarkable 4.80 kills per set, also a program record. She twice broke the single-match record for kills, recording 37 against Georgia State on Oct. 4 before registering 38 versus Georgia Southern on Oct. 25.
Nhial finished her sophomore season in 2025 second in the Sun Belt in total blocks (165), also the second-highest total in JMU program history. She had three matches with 10 or more blocks, tallying a program-record 16 in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Quarterfinal against Troy. Nhial followed that performance with a career-best 12 kills against South Alabama in the conference semifinal on her way to All-Tournament laurels.
2026 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Preseason Awards
Preseason Player of the Year: Kennedy Louisell, James Madison (4th Yr., OH, Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Preseason Libero of the Year: Maddie Cugino, Georgia Southern (3rd Yr., L, Columbus, Ohio)
Preseason Setter of the Year: Erin Madigan, Arkansas State (4th Yr., S, Macomb, Mich.)
Preseason All-Sun Belt Team
Addison Collum, Arkansas State (3rd Yr., RS, Buena Park, Calif.)
Erin Madigan, Arkansas State (4th Yr., S, Macomb, Mich.)
Kaitlin Whitlock, Arkansas State (4th Yr., OH, San Antonio, Texas)
Anna Rita, Coastal Carolina (4th Yr., MB, Riga, Latvia)
Reagan Barth, Georgia Southern (4th Yr., OH, Lenexa, Kan.)
Maddie Cugino, Georgia Southern (3rd Yr., L, Columbus, Ohio)
Kennedy Louisell, James Madison (4th Yr., OH, Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Ayen Nhial, James Madison (3rd Yr., MB, Louisville, Ky.)
Emma Barnett, Marshall (2nd Yr., OH, Louisville, Ky.)
Cambria Gaier, South Alabama (2nd Yr., OH, Caledonia, Mich.)
Sadie McAda, Southern Miss (4th Yr., OH, Pleasanton, Texas)
Sunni Sheppard, Southern Miss (4th Yr., L, Brandon, Miss.)
2026 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Preseason Poll
East Division
1. James Madison (12) – 95
2. Georgia Southern (2) – 84
3. Coastal Carolina – 68
4. App State – 52
5. Marshall – 44
6. Georgia State – 29
7. Old Dominion – 20
West Division
1. Arkansas State (12) – 95
2. South Alabama (1) – 79
3. Southern Miss (1) – 64
T4. Louisiana – 56
T4. Troy – 56
6. Louisiana Tech – 24
7. ULM – 18
— JMU Athletics —
