Big South Announces 2019 Preseason Volleyball Poll & Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Defending Big South champion High Point University has been chosen the favorite in the conference’s annual preseason volleyball poll by the league’s head coaches, it was announced today by the conference office. In addition, Winthrop senior setter Siani Yamaguchi (Waimanlo, Hawaii) headlines the preseason All-Conference team as the Preseason Player of the Year.
High Point, under the direction of second-year head coach Ryan Meek, received five first-place votes and 93 points to finish first in 2019. HPU, which went 21-10 last season with a 14-2 record in Big South matches, returns four starters and 11 letterwinners from last year’s squad that won its second-straight regular-season title and made its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
Yamaguchi is just the second setter to be voted Preseason Player of the Year since the award began in 2005, and is the first Winthrop player since 2011 to earn the league’s top preseason honor. She led the Big South in 2018 with 10.43 assists per set and 1,168 total assists, was 10th in service aces per set (0.29), and contributed 2.85 digs per set and 0.46 blocks per set from her setter position. Yamaguchi earned First-Team All-Conference accolades last season after she helped Winthrop finish fourth in the league in overall hitting percentage and third in kills. She finished the conference season with league-bests of 648 total assists and 10.98 assists per set, and helped the Eagles rank second in kills and third in hitting percentage against Big South foes. Yamaguchi, who was an Honorable Mention All-Conference and All-Tournament Team honoree in 2017, recorded at least 50 assists in six matches in 2018 -- including a career-high 66 against USC Upstate on Oct. 5, in addition to 10 matches with at least 40-assists and 10-digs. She enters her senior season needing 794 assists and 106 digs to become just the 11th member of the Big South’s 4,000-assist / 1,000-dig club.
Yamaguchi collected 44 points for the Preseason Player of the Year honor, just ahead of Hampton’s Megann Delgado (43 points). Yamaguchi and Delgado were joined on the preseason All-Conference team by High Point teammates Abby Bottomley and Maddy Smith, Campbell’s Sarah Colla and Radford tandem Mallory McKnight and Stephanie Neast.
Radford received four first-place votes and 89 points to finish second in the preseason poll. Winthrop was third in the voting with 81 points and the remaining first-place vote, ahead of UNC Asheville (62 points). Campbell captured the fifth spot with 53 points, ahead of sixth-place USC Upstate (50 points). Charleston Southern was picked seventh with 48 points, followed by Presbyterian College (33), Hampton (26) and Gardner-Webb (15).
The 2019 Big South volleyball season begins Friday, Aug. 30, with 17 matches scheduled. Conference play begins Friday, Sept. 27, while the 2019 Big South Volleyball Championship is slated for Nov. 22-24 on the campus of Winthrop University.
2019 BIG SOUTH PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Siani Yamaguchi, Winthrop, Sr., S (Preseason Player of the Year)
Megann Delgado, Hampton, R-Sr., RS
Abby Bottomley, High Point, Jr., LIB
Mallory McKnight, Radford, Sr., MB
Stephanie Neast, Radford, Sr., OPP
Sarah Colla, Campbell, Soph., OH
Maddy Smith, High Point, Soph., OH
2019 BIG SOUTH PRESEASON VOLLEYBALL POLL
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - High Point (5) |
93 |
| 2 - Radford (4) |
89 |
| 3 - Winthrop (1) |
81 |
| 4 - UNC Asheville |
62 |
| 5 - Campbell |
53 |
| 6 - USC Upstate |
50 |
| 7 - Charleston Southern |
48 |
| 8 - Presbyterian College |
33 |
| 9 - Hampton |
26 |
| 10 - Gardner-Webb |
15 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 10 points, followed by 9 points for second-place, and so on.