Students Arrive and Season Begins on Friday

Freshman move-in day is tomorrow, Friday, Aug. 19. Once the newest Winthrop student’s get moved in they can head to Eagle Field and get their first glimpse of Winthrop Athletics when the Eagles face Georgia Southern in women’s soccer action at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Big South Network for fans who cannot attend in person.

Both soccer teams have played at least one exhibition match. The women have had two victories. A 2-0 win over Wofford and a 6-0 win at Catawba. It is good to see the ladies scoring goals which was an issue last season. Senior Courtney Durbin will be the main focus of the attack up front but freshman Krystyna Freda showed promise in the preseason. Freshman Grace Radler also has had productive minutes in the attack along with junior Allie VandeWater and senior Rachel Webster. The Eagles have always been strong in the back and with red-shirt senior Kelsey Weavil and junior Sarah Schippers sharing time in net this year should be no different.

The Men’s team dropped its home exhibition last night 2-0 to Charlotte and play at Clemson on Sunday. It looks like the goalkeeping that troubled the Eagles last season has been a point of emphisis. Both Enrique Miranda and Patrick Walsh made good saves holding the 49ers scoreless for the first hour of the match. Each goalkeeper played 30 minutes in the exhibition. The Eagles had problems moving forward as it was difficult to judge the attack against a formidable Charlotte squad. On Sunday, Winthrop may run into a similar problem against the Tigers but the Eagles will hopefully have a few more players as some guys had visa issues as international students.

The crowd last night for the men’s game was terrific for an exhibition game, hopefully a good crowd will make it out tomorrow for the season opener. Live stats for the game will be available at winthropeagles.com and of course the previously mentioned video stream at bigsouthsports.com.

Time to Get Started

I don’t know where the summer went but it is time to gear up for volleyball and soccer. There is a lot going on around campus over the next two weeks so if you are in or near Rock Hill stop by to see the excitement. Not only at the Coliseum Area where we will have six sporting events from now until Aug. 27. But also on campus, Welcome Week begins for the Student-body next week. Boyd Jones always brings in great acts for that. Classes begin on the 23rd.

The 2011-12 school year officially begins tonight with the women’s soccer exhibition against Wofford at 6 p.m. Although the match does not count in the standings it is a sign that summer is over. The full student body does not arrive for another week but with fall student-athletes and RA’s already on campus it is getting the feeling of starting up for real. Tonight’s exhibition will give us our first glimpse of the 2010Regular Season Big South Co-Champs. The Eagles were the top-seed in last year’s Big South Tournament. This season they are picked sixth which seems a little low to me but when you realize five teams tied for first last year it is hard to shuffle the deck. I think the Big South will be wide open again this year and multiple teams including Winthrop have a chance to be successful.

Tonight’s match begins a week of preseason action. The Men’s soccer team has its exhibition game on the 17th and volleyball plays its Garnet and Gold game on the 22nd. The first game that counts is next week, the 19th, when women’s soccer hosts Georgia Southern. That will be our first Big South Network game of the season.

2011 Volleyball Preview Part 2

Today, I finish out the Big South Preseason coaches’ poll with the teams picked 6-10. As luck would have it the coaches tied for sixth so my vote unofficially breaks the tie…

UNC Asheville and Charleston Southern were both picked sixth. The Bulldogs get my vote for one reason and one reason only. Cindi Miller. Miller is Asheville’s leading returning hitter and the only member of the All-Conference first team to return to school. The Bulldogs will be under the direction of first year head coach Frederico Santos who spent a number of years at Asheville as an assistant coach before beginning his head coaching career at the D2 level. Santos brings a laid back Brazilian philosophy to the conference which will be interesting. He has always been well liked by his players and will have some tricks but the main trick will be to get the ball to Miller. Unlike the rest of the league, Asheville needs its middle attack to be more productive. I expect Holly Shelton, now a junior, to be more of a force and Meredith Foster to continue her improvement. Alex Stewart was a nice surprise for the ‘Dogs last season. There is a question mark at setter, but Santos is a setting coach so I think that will get worked out pretty early on. The Bulldogs had arguably the best outside combo in the league last year, they have half that back, I expect them to be half as good. They move from third to sixth with Miller earning all-conference honors once again.

Graduation hit no team harder than Charleston Southern. Head Coach Danyel Bellush is one of my favorite people in the league but last year was their season to shine and it happened to be when the league was its best in years. The Bucs made the semifinal round behind Player of the Year Amanda Hill. Unfortunately, she and four of her teammates are gone leaving CSU with setter Amy Nokes and middle blocker Crissy Skokan as returning starters. Obviously the question is where does the offense come from? There is no way to replace Hill as a hitter or as a leader and let’s not forget about Cori Holeman and Amberle Trinder who helped CSU be near the top of the league in blocking. I fear it is going to take awhile for the Bucs to reload. Coach Bellush has eight sophomores on her roster lead by Kayla Klinger. She will have to grow up fast. CSU always plays well in the BucDome but they are going to struggle on the road with such a young team.

Another team hit hard by graduation is Presbyterian. The Blue Hose graduated six players including 1st team all-conference middle Amanda Kettles. The good news is that PC returns preseason all-conference outside hitter Presley Mabry along with Andrea Barman and Allison Brown. The Blue Hose will also be a young team as they have just one senior and she only played in nine matches last season. However with three returning contributors, PC is actually in a better spot than many teams. Chris Belshe continues to have his team compete but depth is still an issue. PC is a difficult team to call. I am going to put them ahead of CSU in seventh but not by much.

The good news for Radford is that the league is going to be down a little bit this season. So, for them to improve from two wins to five wins gives RU fans a hope that they may be able to move up. The bad news is for the second year in a row, it failed to hit over .160 as a team and Desiree Aramburu and Laura Waddell are no longer on the team. So, Carly Flemming and Megan McWhorter are really going to have to step up their games. Katelyn Meeks is an underrated libero who is a good primary passer but head coach Marci Jenkins will have to break in a new setter and have to find something on the outside. The bottom line for Radford is that it has to find kills. You can’t hit .160 and expect to win. At the end of the year look at the Highlanders attack percentage. If it is close to .200 they complete with PC, CSU, Campbell, and Asheville. If it’s under .170 they finish last.

Gardner-Webb is the only team in the league that returns all six starters from last season. In fact, it returns all 13 players from last season. The only thing GWU doesn’t return is its head coach. Leo Sayles begins his D1 coaching career with one of the more experienced teams in the league. The only problem is those returners went 5-27 and 0-16 in the conference last season. This is going to sound funny, but I don’t think GWU is that bad. Molly Rhyne is a good outside hitter, Laura Wilcox was Freshman of the Year what seems like forever ago, and Evan Moffitt although maybe not the best technical setter, competes hard. I honestly think this team can compete with the teams we are talking about today. Now I am still going to pick them ninth, because last year they quit on their head coach. So I am not sold on their toughness but if Coach Sayles can instill some pride the red and black and get them to play hard throughout the season especially on those tough road trips to Liberty, High Point, and Winthrop then GWU can surprise some people. Like a lot of teams in this league, GWU doesn’t play well on the road. They have to hang in, compete, and they can steal some matches. They can beat CSU, Radford, PC, and maybe Asheville at home. If they get to four wins in the conference this season, it still won’t be pretty but it will be a lot better than 0-16 and they will still bring back 10 players the following year. You have to start somewhere and for GWU start with winning at home and competing on the road.

So that is it. A team by team look at what I think will happen in the league. Like last year, we will review just before the conference tournament in Charleston. To recap here is what the coaches picked compared to how I pick them. There isn’t too much difference.

Coaches/ Me

1. Liberty/ 1. Liberty

2. High Point/ . tie High Point

3. Coastal Carolina/ 3. tie Winthrop

4. Winthrop/ 4. Coastal Carolina

5. Campbell/ 5. Campbell

6. tie Charleston Sou./ 6. UNC Asheville

7. tie UNC Asheville/ 7. Presbyterian

8. Presbyterian/ 8. Charleston Southern

9. Radford/ 9. Gardner-Webb

10. Gardner-Webb/ 10. Radford

2011 Volleyball Preview Part 1

It is time for my 2nd annual Big South Volleyball Preview where I tell you what the league coaches got right in their pre-season rankings and where they went wrong. As I did last year, I will take the coaches poll from top to bottom and give you a little more information about why these picks were made. So let’s get to it and talk about the first half of the now 10-team league.

Liberty is picked to win the league after a 25-9 year last season. The tournament runners-up simply ran out of gas in the Big South tournament a year ago and on paper are an easy pick for the top slot. Jade Craycraft, Loren Thomas, and Kelly Haseman were each picked as preseason All-Conference picks. Liberty coach Shane Pinder always does a great job of filling in the holes. Last season, I thought the Flames would be down a bit because they lost three All-Conference performers the previous season and all they did was go 14-2 in the league. Craycraft is just a sophomore but is every competitive and finds ways to get her team out of difficult spots. She was the reason they were able to beat Winthrop in the semifinal and if she has another strong season, she may be a front-runner for postseason Player of the Year. The Flames lose Karyl Bacon, which is a big loss. LU will need a young outside to step up. Lillie Happel is the player expected to do it but she is just a sophomore. Hazeman is the best returning libero in the league and Liberty will once again be very strong. You can pencil them in for another run to the Championship round but then we said that about Coastal Carolina last year, so use pencil.

Now the dilemma, the coaches went High Point, Coastal Carolina, and Winthrop for spots two through four. Honestly, this is a toss-up. These three teams might as well be the same team. They all have major losses from a year ago and will have to have young players step up and become leaders. Separating them is a matter of opinion and in my opinion; High Point is too high at No. 2 but then someone has to be number two. The truth is each of these three teams would be too high at No. 2. Since they can’t all tie for fourth, High Point is as good a choice as any, but I will be surprised if they finish in the top two and even more surprised if they reach the final match.

Last year you might remember the Panthers were picked fourth and I felt it was way too low. HPU went 13-3 and won the tournament title. But last year they had Megan Smith and Audie Gonzalez, this year they do not have a proven outside hitter, also sophomore setter Maddie Simpson will not be available. Michelle Chakirelis is a preseason All-Conference selection in the middle but where is the production around her? Let’s also not forget the top libero from last season, Julie Hershkowitz, also graduated. Jason Oliver is a very bright coach and by all accounts had a very good year recruiting but his only senior is defensive specialist Brianna Holliday and Cortney Jonk is a steady player but not a first option. Yes, the Panthers will be in the mix, they will be a top four team because I believe in Oliver as a coach and I am sure he has brought in some talented players, but I feel like they simply lost too much to repeat last season’s success.

Coastal Carolina is another team that graduated a lot of talent after last season. Gone are Chelsey Kimes, Megan Bickford, and Amanda Russell. Sophomore Meghan Laffin made the All-Conference preseason list, but the Chanticleers still have not settled on a setter using both Kelsie Mauck and Lauren Alejo last season. Coastal has been terribly inconsistent the past two seasons playing great at home but less than great on the road. I expect Alejo to become their setter, Laffin to have a good year, but the key to this team is Erika Lightsey. She must be more consistent for the Chants to challenge. Remember this was the team we were glowing about last year and they underachieved mightily to a 14-18 season. They have to figure out how to play on the road or they are going to be right around .500 again. Kristen Bauer always gets talented players to Coastal so I will probably always pick them in the top half of the league but they have to prove they can win on the road and be more consistent than they have been the last two years for me to put then higher than fourth.

Now, I have been told that one coach in the league picked Winthrop ninth, but the sanity of the other nine coaches placed the Eagles in the number four spot. I can see why some coaches would be down on the Eagles. Winthrop lost five senior starters from a year ago but the one they return is the pre-season Player of the Year, Becca Toor. Toor is the most athletic middle in the league and is primed for another great season. She will need to be great because on paper there is not much offensive help around her. Fortunately, the matches aren’t played on paper. Like Coastal’s Lighsey, Winthrop will need junior Carolyn Weed to have a good year. Weed is capable. She is athletic with a good arm swing and the coaches feel like they have found the reason for her inconsistency. There will be six new Eagles this year, that is half the team and oh yeah the head coach is new, at least to Winthrop. Julie Torbett is the winningest coach in the Big South, as she collected all of those wins at UNC Asheville. Coaches around the league know Coach Torbett very well and know she preaches defense first. The Eagles will be better defensively this year and may have to rely on scrappiness until some of the young players develop. Stephanie Palmer will step into the full-time setting role after sharing time there last season. She is a capable setter, is left-handed, and has a good arm swing. She will look to have a breakout season. Coach Torbett is also excited about freshman libero Catherine Brusie. Now it takes a lot for me to get excited about a libero but the last libero Coach Torbett got excited over who wore No. 10 is at the top of the Big South record book for career digs. So we will just have to see. Like High Point and Coastal, Winthrop is in the mix could finish second, third, or fourth. It won’t be ninth.

The Big South welcomes Campbell back into the league after a 17-year stint in the Atlantic Sun (which was the TAAC when the Camels originally joined). The Camels are obviously the biggest unknown in the league and a lot of coaches seemed to give the Camels the benefit of the doubt when voting them fifth. Campbell is coming off a 10-17 season. The Camels graduated three of their top four hitters but returns Jordan Reaves on the outside and Annie Kobeski in the middle. Setter Heather Wilson is in her second season with the team after transferring from Washington State. Campbell also has six freshmen on its 15-player roster. So like everyone else in the conference, the Camels will need some younger players to move into leadership roles. I haven’t seen the Camels play since 2003, so I will have to take a wait and see approach like everyone and give the orange and black the benefit and say fifth is fair. It would not surprise me to see the Camels in the mix and be a tough team in the tournament; it also would not surprise me to see them struggle on the road getting use to new trips and new opponents.

So there are the top five teams as voted by the Big South coaches. I can’t really argue too much with the voting. A few notes about the league. After graduating so much on the outside last year, four middles were voted to the preseason All-Conference team this year. The top two outside hitters play for teams picked in the bottom five. Liberty is the only team with multiple preseason selections (three). The league was clearly the strongest last season and will be a little bit down this year but the competition should be interesting because even though on paper Liberty is the team to beat, they aren’t that far ahead and there a bunch of teams that could make a move. Tomorrow, I will have a look at teams picked 6-10.