Big South Announces 2024 Preseason Women's Tennis Poll & Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Three-time defending Big South women’s tennis champion
Charleston Southern University has been unanimously voted the preseason favorite in the annual Big South Conference preseason poll by the league’s head coaches, the conference office announced Thursday. The Buccaneers received all six first-place votes and 36 points to win the conference in 2024. In addition, CSU junior
Noa Boyd (Silver Spring, Md.) was voted the first-ever Women’s Tennis Preseason Player of the Year.
Charleston Southern, which is 20-1 in conference matches since 2020, earned the top spot for the third consecutive year.
UNC Asheville, the 2023 regular-season champion, was second in the preseason ranking with 29 points.
Presbyterian College was third in the poll with 22 points, ahead of fourth-place
Gardner-Webb (19 points).
Longwood placed fifth in the poll with 11 points, while
Radford landed in the sixth and final spot with nine points.
In the 2023 fall season, Boyd reached the finals at the 25k Florence Wild Card. She went undefeated in doubles at the CSU Invitational with wins against Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston and Furman, and was undefeated in singles at the Coastal Carolina Invite. Boyd also advanced to the second round of ITA Carolina Regionals in the main draw. Boyd earned Second-Team All-Conference honors for singles and doubles in 2023, and enters 2024 with career records of 24-10 in singles (7-1 Big South) and 21-8 in doubles (8-2 conference). She was a key member of the team winning its third consecutive Big South Tournament Title to advance to the NCAA Tournament. Last spring, Boyd moved up to play primarily at the No. 3 singles position and finished the year at 13-6 and 11-5 on that court. She was one win behind the team leaders in singles wins with her 13, she finished 10-8 in doubles play mostly at the third flight, and went 4-1 and 4-2 in league play in singles and doubles matches, respectively.
The 2024 women’s tennis season is scheduled to begin this Saturday, Jan. 13, with Presbyterian in action. The 2024 Big South Women’s Tennis Championship is slated for April 19-20, and the top four teams in the final Big South standings will qualify for the conference tournament, with the semifinals and finals at the Marion Diehl Tennis Center in Charlotte, N.C. The champion receives the Big South’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
2024 WOMEN'S TENNIS PRESEASON POLL
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - Charleston Southern (6) |
36 |
| 2 - UNC Asheville |
29 |
| 3 - Presbyterian College |
22 |
| 4 - Gardner-Webb |
19 |
| 5 - Longwood |
11 |
| 6 - Radford |
9 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 6 points, followed by 5 points for second-place, and so on.