University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldog Volleyball Picked 4th in Big South Preseason Poll
08.06.2012 | Women's Volleyball
CHARLOTTE - The UNC Asheville volleyball team is a preseason pick to finish in fourth place in the Big South Conference this season according to the coaches of the league. The announcement of the Big South's preseason poll and preseason All-Conference team was announced on Friday.
Liberty, under the direction of ninth-year head coach Shane Pinder, was picked to finish first for the second year in a row. The Lady Flames received nine first-place votes and finished with 99 points. Radford, last year's Big South Tournament runner-up, finished second in the poll with 78 points and received the remaining first-place vote. Winthrop earned 74 points from the coaches to claim the third spot, while UNC Asheville was fourth with 59 points. High Point placed fifth with 56 points, just ahead of Coastal Carolina and Campbell, who were voted sixth and seventh with 53 points and 47 points, respectively. Presbyterian College's 45 points placed the Blue Hose in eighth and Gardner-Webb was picked No. 9 (28 points). Charleston Southern rounded out the list with 11 points.
The Bulldogs fooled the experts last year when they were picked seventh but came in fourth place in 2011. Asheville finished with a 15-14 overall record last season and went 7-7 in league play.
The Bulldogs did not place anybody on the league's preseason All-Conference team.
"Polls are nice things to put on websites and talk about a little bit," commented second-year coach Frederico Santos. "We're excited about the upcoming season but there's plenty of work to do before we play our first match.
"The Big South Conference will be extremely competitive this season," added Santos. "I see a lot of close, hard-fought matches throughout the year."
Asheville begins preseason practice on Tuesday. They'll open the 2012 season at the Gamecock Invitational on Aug. 24 when the Bulldogs face ETSU. Asheville opens Big South Conference play at Gardner-Webb on Sept. 21 before hosting Radford on Sept. 28.
