Big South Announces 2024 Volleyball Preseason Poll & Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – For the eighth consecutive season,
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. Meanwhile, the coaches voted High Point outside hitter
Dylan Maberry (Magnolia, Texas) Preseason Player of the Year, HPU libero
Jordyn Schilling (Newport Beach, Calif.) the Preseason Libero of the Year, and Panthers’ setter
Allie Gray (Omaha, Neb.) the Preseason Setter of the Year as part of the Preseason All-Conference team selections.
High Point, under the direction of seventh-year head coach
Ryan Meek, collected seven first-place votes and 63 points in the voting to repeat as champions in 2024. HPU was the Big South regular-season champion in 2023 with its perfect 14-0 record in league matches for its fourth consecutive regular-season title and sixth in seven seasons. The Panthers also won the Conference Tournament last year and finished 23-8 overall.
Winthrop was second in the polling with 57 points and received the remaining first-place vote.
Presbyterian College earned 44 points to finish third in the preseason poll, while
USC Upstate was fourth in the voting with 40 points.
Radford landed in the fifth position with 31 points, ahead of
Charleston Southern (21 points for sixth).
Gardner-Webb claimed the seventh spot with 19 points, and
UNC Asheville was picked eighth with 13 points to round out the poll.
Maberry is the first three-time Preseason Player of the Year selection in Big South history. The 2021 and 2023 Big South Player of the Year, Maberry is a three-time First-Team All-Conference honoree and was named to the AVCA All-Region and All-America team in 2023 -- becoming the first-ever Big South volleyball player to win two All-America honors in her career. She was the Wanda Watkins Big South Female Athlete of the Year for the 2023-24 season, and she appeared in all 110 sets last year and led the team and Big South with 453 kills to average 4.12 per set. Maberry collected seven 20-plus kill matches in 2023, including a career-high 29 kills versus Wofford. She also led the squad and conference with 47 service aces and had a season-high five at USC Upstate. Maberry concluded the 2023 campaign as the conference leader in points with 531.5 (4.83 per set), while her 269 digs were second-most for the Panthers. In Big South matches, Maberry averaged 5.42 points per set (238.5 total), 4.48 kills per set (197 total), had 27 service aces, 126 digs and 24 blocks in leading High Point to a perfect 14-0 conference record and outright regular-season championship. The four-time Big South Player of the Week honoree last season also collected Big South All-Tournament team honors in helping the Panthers win the conference title for the second consecutive year.
Maberry collected six first-place votes and 46 points for the Preseason Player of the Year honor, ahead of teammates
Eve Wilson (33 points) and Gray (29 points).
Schilling was a First-Team All-Big South honoree last season. She appeared in all 31 matches and 110 sets played, and was the libero in 28 contests. She led the Panthers with 456 digs to rank third in the Big South, and averaged 4.15 digs per set (tied for second in conference) along with a .964 reception percentage as well as 34 service aces. In Big South matches, Schilling totaled 214 digs (4.86 per set), a .961 reception clip and recorded 16 service aces. A four-time Big South Libero of the Week honoree in 2023, Schilling posted a career-high 27 digs vs. Winthrop in the Big South Championship Final. She also had a career-high five service aces in her season debut with the Panthers at James Madison (Aug. 25) and matched her career-high with five service aces against UNC Asheville (Oct. 7). Schilling also tallied 63 assists along with a career-high eight assists at Gardner-Webb (Sept. 30). She earned 13 points and six first-place votes in the preseason balloting, ahead of Winthrop’s
Rylie McMahen (six points and one first-place vote) and Gardner-Webb’s
Molly Littlefield (four points, one first-place vote).
Gray is the reigning Big South Setter of the Year, as the First-Team All-Conference selection led the Big South with 956 assists last season for a league-high 9.37 assists per set average. She appeared in 102 sets and started 28 of 29 matches played, and recorded a career-high 58 assists in High Point’s Big South Championship victory over Winthrop on Nov. 19. Gray totaled 30+ assists in 17 matches, 40+ assists in five matches, and 50+ assists in two. She added 44 kills, 16 service aces, 198 digs and 41 blocks, and recorded a season-high five service aces against Liberty. In Big South competition, Gray was the lone player to average double-digit assists with her 10.78 clip. She received five first-place votes and 12 points in the Preseason Setter of the Year voting, ahead of Winthrop’s
Isabella Murray (nine points and two first-place votes).
Maberry, Schilling and Gray were joined on the preseason All-Conference team by Wilson, Winthrop’s Murray and
Avery Jolley, and USC Upstate’s
Ady O’Grady.
The 2024 Big South volleyball season begins Friday, Aug. 30, while Conference play begins Friday, Sept. 27. The top six teams in the final Big South standings will qualify for the 2024 Big South Women’s Volleyball Championship, which is scheduled for Friday-Sunday, Nov. 22-24 and will be hosted by High Point.
2024 BIG SOUTH PRESEASON VOLLEYBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Dylan Maberry, High Point, OH (Preseason Player of the Year)
Eve Wilson, High Point, MB
Avery Jolley, Winthrop, OH
Allie Gray, High Point, S (Preseason Setter of the Year)
Ady O’Grady, USC Upstate, MB
Jordyn Schilling, High Point, LIB (Preseason Libero of the Year)
Isabella Murray, Winthrop, S
2024 BIG SOUTH PRESEASON VOLLEYBALL POLL
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - High Point (7) |
63 |
| 2 - Winthrop (1) |
57 |
| 3 - Presbyterian College |
44 |
| 4 - USC Upstate |
40 |
| 5 - Radford |
31 |
| 6 - Charleston Southern |
21 |
| 7 - Gardner-Webb |
19 |
| 8 - UNC Asheville |
13 |
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.