Appalachian Athletic Conference releases women's volleyball pre-season poll

Laurinburg, N.C. - The St. Andrews women's volleyball team was selected to finish 12th in a pre-season poll released by the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Thursday afternoon. 

The Knights finished their 2023 campaign with an 8-20 record, and will look to improve on that this season under first-year Head Coach Alejandro Escobar. They received 61 poll points, three points ahead of 13th place Tennessee Wesleyan (58 points) and 17 points behind Brenau and Johnson, who came in tied with the same amount of points (99 points). Reigning conference champions Columbia International was chosen to stay at the top, coming in with 14 first-place votes and 224 total votes. 

The preseason poll was voted on by the head coaches of each institution in the AAC. Teams received 15 points for a first-place vote, 14 for second place, 13 for third place and so on until all 15 teams were ranked. Teams were then ordered by most points received to least points received.

The Knights will aim to make the conference tournmanent at the end of the season, which will be held November 14-16 at the MeadowView Marriott in Kingsport, Tenn.

2024 AAC Women's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll
School (First-Place Votes) - Total Voting Points
1. Columbia International (14) - 224
2. Milligan (1) - 207
3. Bryan - 182
4. Reinhardt - 178
5. Truett McConnell - 165
6. Bluefield - 150
7. Union - 131
8. Montreat - 100
9. Tie-Johnson - 99
10. Tie-Brenau - 99
11. Pikeville - 82
12. St. Andrews - 61
13. Tennessee Wesleyan - 58
14. Columbia - 50
15. Kentucky Christian - 18