Volleyball picked second in SoCon preseason poll
8/19/2013 5:17:00 PM | Volleyball
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Georgia Southern volleyball team has been picked second in the annual Southern Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll, the league office announced today.
Middle Kym Coley and libero Alexandra Beecher were named preseason all-conference.
The Eagles garnered two first-place votes and finished six points behind Samford, which recorded six first-place votes. Furman was third with 79 points and a first place vote, while UNCG was fourth with 67 points and two first-place votes.
Georgia Southern returns three starters and nine letterwinners from last year's squad, which finished 25-7 overall, 15-1 in the SoCon and won the league's South Division regular-season title.
Coley was named all-tournament at the 2012 Southern Conference championships after recording 17 kills and four blocks in the semifinals versus Furman and hitting .353 with seven kills against UNCG in quarterfinal action. The junior started 31 of 32 matches, hit .293 and ranked third on the team with 255 kills. She led the team with 98 blocks and 23 solo blocks.
Beecher was named the SoCon All-Freshman Team after setting a school single-season record with 604 digs. The sophomore was one of two Eagles to play in all 124 sets in 2012 and posted 20-plus digs in 13 matches. She had a school-record 40 digs in a home match against Western Carolina and tallied 31 in the SoCon tourney semifinal against Furman.
The Eagles and first-year head coach Dustin Wood open the 2013 campaign at the Jaguar Invitational in Mobile, Ala., Aug. 30. Their first home match of the campaign is against Georgia Sept. 10 at 6 p.m. in Hanner Fieldhouse.
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.
