LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – After a season where the COVID-19 global pandemic pushed all volleyball competition from the fall to the spring semester for the first time in conference history, the league is planning for a return to some type of normalcy this fall.
In exclusive voting by the league’s head coaches, Trinity University, winner of 19 SCAC Titles, including two of the last five, has been selected as the preseason favorite to win the 2021 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) women’s volleyball title.
On the heels of its second consecutive appearance in the SCAC Tournament Championship match and ninth in the last 10 seasons, the Texas Tigers look to become just the sixth program in league history with 20 or more conference titles. The TU volleyball program would join five other Tiger programs, men’s tennis (25), women’s soccer (24), women’s tennis (23), men’s soccer (21) and women’s swimming (21), to accomplish the feat.
Trinity (13-3; 12-2), which begins the season ranked first in the AVCA coaches’ poll, earned seven of the nine first-place votes to total 79 points in the preseason balloting. The Tigers return a highly decorated senior class that includes four All-SCAC performers from a season ago, led by First Team selections Avery Tuggle and Annie Rose Leggett. Tuggle, a two-time First Team All-SCAC honoree and 2019 SCAC Player-of-the-Year, finished last season with 132 kills, 146 digs and 12 services aces in just 16 matches from her outside hitter position. Leggett, also a two-time First Team All-SCAC outside hitter, led the league in both service aces (36) and aces per set (0.71) and finished with over 100 kills (111) for the second year in a row. Rounding out the returning All-SCAC Tiger seniors are a pair of Second Team selections in Sara Flynn and Lexie Acevedo. Flynn finished with 96 kills as an outside hitter and her .306 hitting percentage was third best in the SCAC among players who posted 35 or more kills. Her efforts helped the Tigers to an overall .256 hitting percentage, one of just two teams in the league to post a team mark above .200. Acevedo accounted for 284 assists and averaged above five assists per set (5.36) for the second-straight season from her setter’s position.
A 14-time SCAC Coach-of-the-Year recipient, Julie Jenkins will embark on her 37th season as the head coach of the Trinity volleyball team. Following last season, Jenkins is just 15 victories shy of 1,000 career wins, possessing an outstanding 985-401 (.710) overall mark.
Colorado College, ranked second in the AVCA coaches’ poll after winning its third SCAC Tournament title in the last four years while posting a perfect 17-0 record, received the final two remaining first-place votes and finished second in the preseason poll with 74 total points. The Tigers return three starters and their libero this fall, including senior middle hitter Georgia Mullins, the reigning SCAC Player-of-the-Year, sophomore outside hitter Isabella Lipacis, the 2020-21 SCAC Freshman of the Year, and senior outside hitter Isabella Vasquez, a First-Team all-conference selection. Mullins led the SCAC in hitting percentage (.417), kills per set (3.30), points per set (4.1) and finished second in total kills with 185 to pace a CC attack that paced the conference in nearly every statistical category. Led by Mullins, Lipacis and Vasquez, Colorado College finished the season with a league best 810 kills, 14.46 kills per set, a .278 hitting percentage and 768 assists in just 17 matches.
For the first time since 1998, there will be a new face on the sideline leading the CC Tigers as Sharon Dingman was announced as the eighth head coach in program history last month, taking over for long time head coach Rick Swan who retired at the conclusion of the 2020-21 season.
Austin College and Southwestern University each received 57 points from the coaches to finish tied for third in the preseason rankings.
The ‘Roos (9-7; 8-4), who advanced to their second-straight SCAC semifinal in 2020-21, will be led by trio of returning All-SCAC honorees from a year ago with senior left-side hitter Mari Prazak leading the way. Prazak was named Second Team All-SCAC for the second consecutive season after finishing fourth in the league in digs (298) and third in the conference digs per set (5.14). Third Team All-SCAC selections sophomore Victoria Smith and senior Ali Horton join Prazak as returning All-Conference ‘Roos who hope to guide Austin College to its first SCAC Tournament Championship match since 2007.
Southwestern (9-4; 8-4) returns four All-SCAC performers from a season ago, highlighted by three Second Team honorees in seniors Lauren Crabtree and Ali Grona and junior Riley Brantley. Crabtree and Brantley combined for 288 kills as two of the top three hitters for the Pirates and Grona finished with 273 digs and averaged 5.25 digs per set – good for second-best in the SCAC. Junior Katelyn Whitehead rounds out the quartet of returning All-SCAC Pirates that hope to lead this program to its first SCAC Tournament title since 2015.
University of St. Thomas finished with 39 points to round out the top five. The Celts posted a 7-7 mark in SCAC play and finished the season by winning three of their final four regular season contests. St. Thomas welcomes back its top four hitters, including Third Team All-SCAC performer Alaina Lanik who paced the Celts with 145 kills. The versatile Lanik also finished the season with 231 digs, 143 assists and 16 service aces – marks that ranked her first or second on the team in each category.
The next three teams in the coaches predicted order of balloting finished within nine points of each other with Texas Lutheran University (5-12; 5-11), Schreiner University (4-13; 4-12) and University of Dallas (3-12; 3-11) slotted to finish sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively. TLU received 34 points, while Schreiner complied 28 points and Dallas 25.
Bulldogs’ senior middle blocker Madison Weisinger returns to lead TLU following a Second Team All-SCAC performance as a junior. Weisinger finished tied for second in the SCAC with 49 total blocks and is one of two returning Bulldogs to post over 100 kills last season with 111.
Schreiner is led by junior outside hitter Kayla Lofland who earned Second Team All-SCAC accolades a season ago behind a league best 219 kills, while Dallas boasts the return of a three-time All-SCAC performer Dayjah Whyte who secured Third Team honors in 2020-21.
Rounding out the coaches’ preseason poll, Centenary College (3-11; 3-11) was picked ninth with 12 total points. Senior outside hitter Alyssa Davis, who earned Third Team honors as a junior, will look to lead the Ladies back into the SCAC Tournament for the first time since 2018 after pacing Centenary with 166 kills while posting a career-high 3.19 kills per set.
The 2021 SCAC Volleyball season is set to tip off with non-conference action on Wednesday, September 1, while the first SCAC regular season weekend is scheduled for Friday, September 24 with Colorado College and Dallas hosting group pods. Following the completion of the regular season, the top six teams in the league will compete in a single-elimination tournament, hosted by Trinity University in November, to determine the conference's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament.
2021 SCAC Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll
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| 1. | Trinity University (7) | 79 |
| 2. | Colorado College - (2) | 74 |
| 3. | Austin College | 57 |
| Southwestern University | 57 | |
| 5. | University of St. Thomas | 39 |
| 6. | Texas Lutheran University | 34 |
| 7. | Schreiner University | 28 |
| 8. | University of Dallas | 25 |
| 9. | Centenary College | 12 |
