Big South Announces 2021 Spring Volleyball Preseason Poll and Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – For the fifth consecutive year, High Point University has been chosen the favorite in the Big South’s annual preseason volleyball poll by the league’s head coaches, it was announced today by the Conference office. In addition, Campbell junior outside hitter Sarah Colla (Carlsbad, Calif.) headlines the preseason All-Conference team as the Preseason Player of the Year.
High Point, under the direction of third-year head coach Ryan Meek, received six first-place votes and 77 points to finish first in the 2021 spring season -- just ahead of defending Big South Champion Winthrop, which was second with 74 points and received the three remaining first-place votes. Campbell earned 65 points to finish third in the preseason poll. Presbyterian College was fourth in the voting with 48 points, ahead of Radford (45 points). UNC Asheville captured the sixth spot with 32 points, ahead of seventh-place Charleston Southern (30 points). USC Upstate was picked eighth with 23 points, followed by Gardner-Webb in ninth (11). Hampton is not participating in volleyball in the upcoming spring season as the Lady Pirates’ fall sports remain suspended due to the ongoing impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Colla is the first Camel to be voted Big South Preseason Player of the Year. A two-time All-Big South honoree -- including First-Team honors in 2019, Colla was the Big South’s top scorer last year with a league-high 4.51 points per set with 465 points. She accumulated 407 kills, 24 service aces, 58 block assists and five block solos in 103 sets played across 29 matches. The 2018 Big South Freshman of the Year, Colla ranked second in the Big South with her 407 kills and 3.95 kills per set in 2019. Defensively, she ranked third on the team with 63.0 total blocks (0.61 per set), and she finished fourth in digs with 172 (1.67 per set), while her 24 service aces tied for fourth on the squad. In Big South matches, Colla recorded 184 kills (3.91 per set) and 210 points (4.47 per set), both good for second-best in the league. As a freshman in 2018, Colla tied a Campbell single-match record and set a Big South five-set record with 35 kills in a 3-2 win over Charleston Southern on Sept. 21 of that season.
Colla collected 44 points and three first-place votes for the Preseason Player of the Year honor, just ahead of High Point’s Abby Bottomley (36 points and two first-place votes). Colla and Bottomley were joined on the preseason All-Conference team by High Point teammates Annie Sullivan and Kaley Rammelsberg, Winthrop duo Nikkia Benitez and Morgan Bossler, and Presbyterian’s Erin Cooke.
The 2021 Big South spring volleyball season begins Wednesday, Feb. 3, and will be a 16-match double round-robin slate spanning nine weeks from Feb. 3-April 2, with contests scheduled for consecutive days against the same opponent at the same location. This year’s regular-season champion will earn the Big South’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
2021 BIG SOUTH PRESEASON SPRING ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Sarah Colla, Campbell, Jr., OH (Preseason Player of the Year)
Abby Bottomley, High Point, Sr., LIB
Annie Sullivan, High Point, Soph., OH
Nikkia Benitez, Winthrop, Sr., OH
Kaley Rammelsberg, High Point, Soph., MB
Morgan Bossler, Winthrop, Sr., MB
Erin Cooke, Presbyterian, Jr., S/RS
2021 BIG SOUTH PRESEASON SPRING VOLLEYBALL POLL
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - High Point (6) |
77 |
| 2 - Winthrop (3) |
74 |
| 3 - Campbell |
65 |
| 4 - Presbyterian College |
48 |
| 5 - Radford |
45 |
| 6 - UNC Asheville |
32 |
| 7 - Charleston Southern |
30 |
| 8 - USC Upstate |
23 |
| 9 - Gardner-Webb |
11 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 9 points, followed by 8 points for second-place, and so on.