University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville Volleyball Picked 6th in Big South Poll
08.01.2011 | Women's Volleyball
Liberty, under the direction of eighth year head coach Shane Pinder was picked to finish first for the seventh time in school history and its first nod since 2009. The Lady Flames received nine first-place votes to finish with 99 points. High Point, last year's tournament champion, finished second in the poll with 81 points, its highest standing in the preseason poll. Coastal Carolina garnered one top bid and 78 points to come in at No. 3. In fourth place was Winthrop with 70 points and in fifth was new Big South member Campbell with 53 points. Charleston Southern and UNC Asheville tied for the No. 6 slot with 45 points, ahead of Presbyterian College's 36 points. Radford was picked No. 9 with 25 points and Gardner-Webb rounds out the list with 18 points.
Asheville went 19-12 last season and finished in third place in the conference with an 11-5 mark. The Bulldogs are under the direction of first-year coach Frederico Santos. Asheville begins preparations for the 2011 season next week with pre-season drills.
"I'm never been too concerened about pre-season polls and that doesn't change with this one," commented Santos. "We are just going to try and improve with each match and play our best volleyball at the end of the season."
The Bulldogs will open the Santos era in Birmingham, Ala. when Asheville participates in the UAB/Samford Invitational. The first home match for the 2011 season will be on Sept. 23 at 7 p.m.
