WINTHROP, Mass. – After winning its first-ever Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship a season ago, the Wentworth Institute of Technology men's volleyball team has been picked to repeat as champions in 2017. The Leopards picked up six first-place votes and 62 points overall after a vote of the league's eight head coaches.

Rivier, which Wentworth beat in last year's championship match, picked up a first-place vote and was tabbed to finish second with 54. Lasell, the 2015 GNAC Champion, grabbed the other first-place vote and collected 50 points as the Lasers were picked to finish third.

Ranked 9th in the country to start the season, Wentworth returns nine letterwinners from a season ago, including five student-athletes who were named to the All-GNAC team in 2016. Leading the way is senior Alex Potts (Niverville, N.Y.), a Second Team All-American from a season ago and a pre-season All-American by Off the Block, who, along with classmate Jake Reed (Arvada, Colo.) were named First Team All-GNAC. Potts also led all of Division III in hitting percentage as a junior.

Senior Mike Rogochefsky (Rochester, N.Y.) as well as juniors Jon Roat (Macedon, N.Y.) and Sean Mullen (Longwood, Fla.) return to the Leopards after earning Second Team All-GNAC honors last season. Junior Collin Ritter (Feeding Hills, Mass.) also returns for the Black & Gold after missing last season. Ritter was a Second Team All-GNAC selection during the 2015 season.

Wentworth opens the 2017 season this weekend at the SUNY Polytechnic Wildcat Invitational. The Leopards will play both Cairn and SUNY Poly on Friday night before battling a pair of nationally ranked foes in No. 8 Vassar and No. 7 Nazareth on Saturday. The GNAC schedule begins on Thursday, February 9, when Rivier visits the Leopards in a rematch of last year's title match.