-+*The USC Upstate volleyball team has been tabbed to finish in seventh place according to the league’s head coaches as the annual Big South Preseason Volleyball Poll was released by the conference office today.

USC Upstate garnered a total of 37 points in the preseason poll for the seventh place projection. The Spartans had three players receive postseason recognition last year as Madison Haake was named Second Team All-Conference and All-Academic Team, while Lily Dempsey and McKenna Kirkpatrick were both selected to the All-Freshman Team.

Defending regular season champion High Point is projected to win the league in 2018 with eight of 10 first-place votes and 96 total points. Radford, who won the tournament championship last year, is second with one first-place vote and 88 points while Campbell comes in third with the final first-place vote and 82 points.

UNC Asheville (65 points) and Winthrop (64 points) are within one point of each other in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Presbyterian College is in front of USC Upstate in sixth place with 41 points. Charleston Southern (8^th, 29 points), Hampton (9^th, 27 points) and Gardner-Webb (10^th, 21 points) round out the preseason poll.

The Spartans return eight letterwinners, including four starters, from last year’s team while welcoming five newcomers.

USC Upstate opens its 2018 season August 24-25 versus Virginia Tech, Charlotte and Elon at the Charlotte Invitational in Charlotte, N.C.

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