USA South releases preseason volleyball poll

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – Maryville College is the early favorite in the USA South Athletic Conference's preseason volleyball poll.

The overall conference poll and two divisional polls were each released on Thursday. The two divisional polls only include votes from the coaches within that division. The overall poll includes votes from all 13 conference coaches.

In the overall poll, No. 1 Maryville earned 12 of a possible 13 first-place votes and 144 points. Piedmont was second with 120 points and Averett was third with one first-place vote and 114 points. Huntingdon was 12th with 31 points.

In the South Division poll, Maryville received four of the five first-place votes and 16 points, followed by Piedmont in second with 12 points, Covenant in third with one first-place vote and 11 points, LaGrange in fourth with seven points and Huntingdon in fifth with four points.

Huntingdon begins the season on Aug. 29 with the Huntingdon College Jubilee in Roland Arena.

The complete polls are below.

2014 USA South Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll (Overall)

1. Maryville (12 first-place votes), 144 points

2. Piedmont, 120 points

3. Averett (1), 114 points

4. Meredith, 111 points

5. Covenant, 106 points

6. William Peace, 100 points

7. Methodist, 76 points.

8. N.C. Wesleyan, 62 points

9. Greensboro, 55 points

10. LaGrange, 49 points

11. Ferrum, 34 points

12. Huntingdon, 31 points

13. Mary Baldwin, 12 points

2014 USA South Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll (South Division)

1. Maryville (4 first-place votes), 16 points

2. Piedmont, 12 points

3. Covenant, (1) 11 points

4. LaGrange, 7 points

5. Huntingdon, 4 points

2014 USA South Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll (North Division)

1. Meredith (4 first-place votes), 46 points

2. Averett, (4), 45 points

3. William Peace, 38 points.

4. Methodist, 30 points

5. N.C. Wesleyan, 24 points

6. Greensboro, 21 points

7. Ferrum, 13 points

8. Mary Baldwin, 7 points