Big South Announces 2026 Preseason Women's Tennis Poll & Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Charleston Southern University has been unanimously voted the favorite in the annual Big South Conference women’s tennis preseason poll by the league’s head coaches, the conference office announced Thursday. The Buccaneers received all five first-place votes and 25 points to win the conference in 2026. In addition, CSU senior
Marina Skegro (Zagreb, Croatia) was voted the Women’s Tennis Preseason Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Charleston Southern, which is 29-2 in conference matches since 2020, earned the top spot for the fifth consecutive year.
Gardner-Webb, last year’s conference tournament runner-up, was second in the preseason ranking with 16 points.
Presbyterian College was third in the poll with 13 points, just ahead of fourth-place
UNC Asheville (12 points).
Longwood landed in the fifth and final spot with nine points. New women’s tennis associate member
NJIT is not playing a conference schedule in 2026 and therefore not included in the preseason rankings.
Skegro won the Big South Fall Individual Championship for the second-straight year to advance to the ITA Conference Masters Championship. She advanced to the quarterfinals following a straight-set win in the Round of 32, followed by a three-set victory over the No 4 seed in the Round of 16. Last spring, Skegro ended the season with an 11-5 singles mark (9-2 at the No. 2 flight) and was 3-1 against Big South opponents. She won 10 matches competing in doubles play, and enters the 2026 spring season with a 32-16 singles record (12-3 Big South) during her time at CSU.
The 2026 women’s tennis season is scheduled to begin this Saturday, Jan. 17. The 2026 Big South Women’s Tennis Championship is slated for April 16-18 at the Lexington County Tennis Complex in Lexington, S.C., and all six women’s tennis playing members will compete in the conference tournament. The champion receives the Big South’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
2026 WOMEN’S TENNIS PRESEASON POLL
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - Charleston Southern (5) |
25 |
| 2 - Gardner-Webb |
16 |
| 3 - Presbyterian College |
13 |
| 4 - UNC Asheville |
12 |
| 5 - Longwood |
9 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 5 points, followed by 4 points for second-place, and so on.