BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Southwestern Athletic Conference revealed its 2021 SWAC Women’s Soccer Predicted Order of Finish on Thursday with Alabama State tabbed to repeat as conference champions. The preseason poll was voted on by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.

The Lady Hornets tallied a league leading eight first place votes. Alabama State has claimed three of the past five SWAC tournament titles while also being crowned regular season champions twice during that same period. 

Spring 2021 SWAC Women’s Soccer Tournament runner-up Grambling State was selected second followed by Alabama A&M (3^rd), Jackson State (4^th), and Prairie View A&M (5^th) to round out the top five preseason selections.

Southern was tabbed to finish in sixth place with Texas Southern (7^th), Alcorn State (8^th), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (9^th) and Mississippi Valley State (10^th) picked to finish 6-10 respectively. 

The 2021 SWAC Women’s Soccer regular season is set to begin this week with several league teams in action. The 2021 SWAC Women’s Soccer Tournament will be held Nov. 4-7 on the campus of Prairie View A&M University. 

Predicted Order of Finish

1. Alabama State- 148 (8)
2. Grambling State- 138 (2)
3. Alabama A&M- 118 (3)
4. Jackson State- 114 (2) 
5. Prairie View A&M- 106
6. Southern 89 (1) 
7. Texas Southern- 76
8. Alcorn State- 55 (1)
9. Arkansas-Pine Bluff- 50
10. Mississippi Valley State- 45

*First place votes listed in parenthesis

The post SWAC announces 2021 preseason women’s soccer poll appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

Emerald Quest is pleased to present its inaugural preseason NAIA volleyball ranking. Here are the Top 25 NAIA volleyball teams coming into the 2021 season:

2021 Preseason NAIA Volleyball Top 25

1. Missouri Baptist
2. Jamestown
3. Midland
4. Park
5. Concordia (Neb.)
6. Dordt
7. Grand View
8. Eastern Oregon
9. Northwestern (Iowa)
10. Westmont
11. IU Kokomo
12. Keiser
13. Indiana Wesleyan
14. Oklahoma City
15. Central Methodist
16. Ave Maria
17. Ottawa (Kan.)
18. Providence (Mont.)
19. Marian
20. Lindsey Wilson
21. Reinhardt
22. IU East
23. Olivet Nazarene
24. Corban
25. Bellevue

The post Emerald Quest 2021 Preseason NAIA Volleyball Top 25 appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – On Wednesday, United Soccer Coaches released the association’s preseason college rankings, sponsored by Verizon, for men’s and women’s soccer in all divisions of NCAA and junior college competition.

Defending men’s national champions Marshall University and 2020 runners-up Florida State sit atop the polls in NCAA Division I to kickoff the 2021 campaign.

At the NCAA Division II level, University of Charleston is No. 1 on the men’s poll and Flagler College is No. 1 on the women’s poll.

Tufts University claims the top spot on the men’s poll at the NCAA Division III level. On the women’s side, Messiah College is in the No. 1 spot.

Iowa Western Community College and Tyler Junior College sit in the No. 1 spots in the Junior College Division I men’s and women’s polls respectively.

At the Junior College Division II level, Southwestern Community College of Baltimore County-Essex is No. 1 on the men’s poll and Phoenix College is No. 1 on the women’s poll.

In NJCAA Division III, Dallas College-Richland claimed the top spot on the men’s poll, while Dallas College-Brookhaven claims the No. 1 on the women’s poll.

United Soccer Coaches Rankings – Aug. 4, 2021

United Soccer Coaches college rankings, released every Tuesday during the regular season, are an indicator of the week-to-week status of qualified programs and in no way should be used as a guide or indicator of eligibility for championship selection. To be eligible for consideration in United Soccer Coaches college rankings, a school must be a member of the United Soccer Coaches College Services Program.

The post Flagler women atop the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – After winning its first-ever red banner in program history the Blue Raiders start the 2021 season in the No. 1 spot of the 2021 NAIA Coaches’ Postseason Top 25 poll. Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) finished last season with a record of 11-0 defeating Northwestern (Iowa) in the NAIA FCS National Championship Game. Rounding out the top five this week was Northwestern (Iowa), Morningside (Iowa), Keiser (Fla.) and Grand View (Iowa).

2021 NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – Preseason

Receiving Votes: Montana Western 30, Carroll (Mont.) 24, Valley City State (N.D.) 14, Saint Xavier (Ill.) 5.

The post NAIA Football FirstDown PlayBook 2021 Preseason Top 25 Poll appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

2021 Preseason Division II Volleyball Top 25

1. Nebraska-Kearney
2. Angelo State
3. Cal State San Bernadino
4. Hillsdale
5. Tampa
6. Gannon
7. Lynn
8. Lewis
9. Concordia-St. Paul
10. MSU Denver
11. Molloy
12. Colorado Mesa
13. Oklahoma Baptist
14. Wingate
15. Regis
16. Washburn
17. Minnesota Duluth
18. Carson-Newman
19. Harding
20. Michigan Tech
21. Wheeling
22. Missouri-St. Louis
23. Colorado School of Mines
24. Western Washington
25. Central Missouri

The post Emerald Quest 2021 Preseason Division II Volleyball Top 25 appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman has been picked as the favorite team to win the 2020-21 South Atlantic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship as voted by the League’s head coaches. The Eagles picked up seven first-place votes and received 149 points from the panel.

The Eagles closed out the 2019-20 season with a record of 22-8 overall, going 17-5 in SAC play and advancing to their third consecutive NCAA Division II Southeast Regional.

Anderson is No. 2 in the poll with four first-place votes and 141 points, while Catawba is No. 3 with two first-place votes and 134 points.

The Trojans won their second straight SAC Regular Season Title after going 19-3 in conference play and 26-5 overall last season. Anderson also advanced to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional.

The Catawba Indians went 23-6 overall last year, with a record of 17-5 in SAC action.

At No. 4 in the poll was Wingate, who picked up 116 points from the head coaches. The Bulldogs went 17-13 a season ago with an 11-11 record in conference play.  Lenoir-Rhyne followed in the No. 5 position with 100 points after closing out the 2019-20 season with an 11-18 record overall, going 9-13 in the SAC.

Lincoln Memorial earned the No. 6 position with 94 points, while Tusculum came in at No. 7 with 93 points. The Railsplitters went 10-17 overall a year ago, finishing with a record of 9-13 in the SAC. The Pioneers won the 2020 SAC Pilot Flying J Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship and advanced to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional after a 24-7 overall record and a 16-6 SAC mark.

The newest member of the SAC, Limestone landed at No. 8 in the preseason poll as it collected 87 points from the coaches. The Saints won the Conference Carolinas Tournament title a year ago and advanced to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional for the eighth time in the last nine years.

UVA Wise came in at No. 9 with 77 points, followed by Lenoir-Rhyne at No. 10 with 67 points. Coker, Queens, and Mars Hill rounded out the poll at No. 11, No. 12, and, No. 13, respectively with 45, 41, and 26 points.

The South Atlantic Conference also announced its Preseason All-Conference Teams with Teliyah Jeter of Wingate, Madeline Hardy of Lenoir-Rhyne, Keli Romas of Newberry, Braelyn Wykle of Carson-Newman, Caitlyn Ross of UVA Wise, and Taisha DeShazo of Catawba being named to the first team.

Earning second-team honors were Anderson’s Taylor Hair, Mars Hill’s De’Ja Marshall, Queens’ Kristian Eanes, Carson-Newman’s Addison Byrd, Catawba’s Lyrik Thorne, and UVA Wise’s Nia Vanzant.

The 2020-21 women’s basketball season gets underway on Nov. 21 with a full slate of league action. Each team will have regular COVID-19 testing weekly to ensure the health and safety of the student-athletes, coaches, and administrators.

Additionally, each institution will have limited spectator seating in order to comply with state and local health guidelines. Fans should check with the host institution before making plans to attend any SAC basketball games in person.

All of the SAC women’s basketball games will be streamed live online for free through the SAC Live Digital Network. Links to live video and live stats of all the games, as well as a full schedule of games can be found by visiting the women’s basketball page on TheSAC.com.

2020-21 SAC Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll

2020-21 SAC Women’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference

First Team

Teliyah Jeter, Wingate
Madeline Hardy, Lenoir-Rhyne
Keli Romas, Newberry
Braelyn Wykle, Carson-Newman
Caitlyn Ross, UVA Wise
Taisha DeShazo, Catawba

Second Team

Taylor Hair, Anderson
De’Ja Marshall, Mars Hill
Kristian Eanes, Queens
Addison Byrd, Carson-Newman
Lyrik Thorne, Catawba
Nia Vanzant, UVA Wise

The post Carson-Newman atop SAC women’s basketball preseason poll; preseason all-conference teams named appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Southeastern University baseball team has been tabbed as the top squad heading into the 2021 season, as the Fire were voted No. 1 in the NAIA Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 Poll.

The Fire went 26-1 in the shortened 2020 season, ending the year on a program-record 25-game win streak which SEU will bring into the new season.

Junior shortstop Sam Faith is the top offensive returner for Southeastern after hitting .455 with six doubles, five home runs, and 25 runs batted in last year.

Junior right-handed pitcher Bryce Mulcahy is also back for the Fire after going 5-0 with a 2.31 Earned Run Average, 45 strikeouts, and a .174 opponent batting average in 35 innings of work in 2020.

The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and the Association of Independent Institutions.

The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place and so on through the list.

Fellow Sun Conference members St. Thomas and Keiser landed in the Top 25, coming in at No. 4 and 15 respectively. Webber International was receiving votes in the national ranking.

Be sure to follow @SEUFireBaseball on Twitter and Instagram for all of the latest updates on Fire baseball!

2021 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Preseason Poll (November 4, 2020)

Dropped from the Top 25: Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio)

Others Receiving Votes: Taylor (Ind.) 93, Texas Wesleyan 78, Campbellsville (Ky.) 69, Tabor (Kan.) 65, Webber International (Fla.) 45, Concordia (Neb.) 20, Bellevue (Neb.) 19, Columbia (Mo.) 18, IU Kokomo (Ind.) 9, Wayland Baptist (Texas) 8, Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) 8, Clarke (Iowa) 7, Point (Ga.) 6.

The post Southeastern tops 2020-2021 NAIA Baseball Coaches Preseason Poll appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.