Big South Announces 2025 Volleyball Preseason Poll & Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – For the first time since 1989, two teams have tied atop the Big South’s annual preseason volleyball poll, as defending champion
High Point University along with
Winthrop University were voted the 2025 favorites by the league’s head coaches, it was announced today by the conference office. Meanwhile, the coaches voted Winthrop outside hitter/opposite
Avery Jolley (Knoxville, Tenn.) the Preseason Player of the Year and the Eagles’
Isabella Murray (Norcross, Ga.) the Preseason Setter of the Year. UNC Asheville’s
Michelle Thao (Hickory, N.C.) and Winthrop’s
Sophia Matthews (Apex, N.C.) shared Preseason Libero of the Year honors as part of the Preseason All-Conference team selections.
High Point and Winthrop each received four first-place votes and 59 total points in the preseason rankings. HPU holds the top spot for the ninth consecutive year, while WU is atop the preseason poll for the first time since 2007. High Point, under the direction of eighth-year head coach
Ryan Meek, was the Big South regular-season champion in 2024 with its 13-1 record in league matches and defeated the Eagles in five sets to win the 2024 Conference Tournament. Winthrop, led by fourth-year head coach
Heather Gearhart, finished 12-2 in Big South contests last season and played in the NIVC postseason tournament.
USC Upstate was third in the polling with 44 points, while
UNC Asheville was fourth with 39 points.
Radford landed in the fifth position with 34 points, ahead of
Charleston Southern (25 points for sixth).
Presbyterian College claimed the seventh spot with 17 points, and
Gardner-Webb was picked eighth with 11 points to round out the poll.
Jolley is the first Winthrop player to be voted Preseason Player of the Year since 2019 and sixth overall. The 2024 Big South Co-Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Jolley earned First-Team All-Big South honors last season as she led Winthrop with 320 kills, was second in the Big South with 3.64 kills per set, and averaged 4.00 points per set to rank second in the league. Jolley, who helped the Eagles reach the Big South Championship Final, also surpassed 500 career digs last season and was 10th in the conference with 3.00 digs per set. Named the Big South Player of the Week on Nov. 11, she has earned All-Conference honors every season at Winthrop -- First-Team in 2024, Second-Team in 2023 and Honorable Mention in 2022. Jolley received the maximum seven first-place votes and 49 points for the Preseason Player of the Year honor, ahead of Murray (35 points) and UNC Asheville’s
Kylie Cackovic (21 points).
Murray is the reigning Big South Setter of the Year, as the First-Team All-Conference selection led the Big South with 963 assists last season for a league-high 10.58 assists per set average -- the highest average in the conference since 2016. Murray appeared in all 91 sets and started all 27 matches, and recorded the most assists in a 3-set match (46) and 4-set match (51) in the league in 2024. Murray totaled 30+ assists in 22 matches, 40+ assists in nine matches, and 50+ assists in two. She tallied 16 double-doubles, and was the lone player to average double-digit assists in Big South matches with her 11.60 clip. She received the maximum seven first-place votes and 14 points in the Preseason Setter of the Year voting, ahead of USC Upstate’s
Kamyla Vega David (eight points and one first-place vote).
Thao and Matthews tied with 11 points and four first-place votes each in the Preseason Libero of the Year voting. Thao transitioned to libero last year, and finished third in the Big South with 31 service aces and fourth with 440 digs -- averaging 4.89 a set. She had a career-high 38 digs at Gardner-Webb on Nov. 8, tallied a career-high nine assists against Radford on Oct. 11, and posted a career-high five aces vs. Hampton on Sept. 14. Thao was named Co-Libero of the Week on Oct. 14. Matthews earned Big South All-Freshman Team honors in 2024, in addition to All-Tournament and two Big South Libero of the Week awards. She finished with 397 digs, the third-most by a freshman in program history, recorded double-digit digs in all 23 appearances, and set Winthrop’s all-time individual record for most digs in a three-set match with 33 vs. Gardner-Webb (Nov. 15).
Jolley, Murray, Thao and Matthews were joined on the preseason All-Conference team by Cackovic, USC Upstate’s Vega David,
Ady O’Grady and
Savannah Page, and Winthrop’s
Giselle Little.
The 2025 Big South volleyball season begins Friday, Aug. 29, while Conference play begins Friday, Sept. 26. The top six teams in the final Big South standings will qualify for the 2025 Big South Women’s Volleyball Championship, which is scheduled for Friday-Sunday, Nov. 21-23 and will be hosted by High Point University.
2025 BIG SOUTH PRESEASON VOLLEYBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Avery Jolley, Winthrop, OH/OPP (Preseason Player of the Year)
Isabella Murray, Winthrop, S (Preseason Setter of the Year)
Kylie Cackovic, UNC Asheville, OH
Ady O'Grady, USC Upstate, MB
Savannah Page, USC Upstate, RS
Giselle Little, Winthrop, MB
Kamyla Vega David, USC Upstate, S
Michelle Thao, UNC Asheville, LIB (Preseason Co-Libero of the Year)
Sophia Matthews, Winthrop, DS (Preseason Co-Libero of the Year)
2025 BIG SOUTH PRESEASON VOLLEYBALL POLL
| RK - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| T-1 - High Point (4) |
59 |
| T-1 - Winthrop (4) |
59 |
| 3 - USC Upstate |
44 |
| 4 - UNC Asheville |
39 |
| 5 - Radford |
34 |
| 6 - Charleston Southern |
25 |
| 7 - Presbyterian College |
17 |
| 8 - Gardner-Webb |
11 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 8 points, followed by 7 points for second-place, and so on.