NEW YORK – Creighton, the reigning BIG EAST Tournament and regular-season champions, was picked to repeat its successes from 2014 as the Bluejays were announced as the unanimous favorite in the BIG EAST Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Poll, which was unveiled along with the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team on Wednesday. Additionally, Creighton junior outside hitter Jess Bird was voted the Preseason Player of the Year and was one of five unanimous selections to the 12-member, non-positional preseason all-conference team.
Creighton received 81 points and nine first-place votes. Marquette received the other first-place vote and was ranked No. 2 with 69 points. Xavier was a close third with 62 points.
St. John’s was voted to finish fourth with 53 points with Butler right behind with 52 points. Rounding out the 10 teams are No. 6 Seton Hall (41 points), No. 7 Villanova (34 points), No. 8 Georgetown (28 points), No. 9 DePaul (20 points) and No. 10 Providence (10 points).
Voting for the poll and the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team was conducted by the league’s 10 head coaches who could not cast ballots for their own teams or student-athletes.
Bird was voted to the All-BIG EAST First Team in 2014 after missing most of September recovering from knee surgery. The outside hitter has been a starter for Creighton over the past two years and finished 2014 with an average of 2.96 kills per set. She was sixth in conference play in service aces (17) and ninth in points per set (3.59).
Creighton (25-9, 16-2 in 2014) returns a senior class that has been to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments and three total Preseason All-BIG EAST Team selections including Lauren Smith and Kate Elman along with Bird. Elman returns as Creighton’s all-time digs leader and averaged 4.38 digs per game in 2014. Smith was a unanimous preseason selection and last year’s BIG EAST Championship Most Outstanding Player. She was voted to the 2014 All-BIG EAST Second Team as a middle blocker and also earned second team All-Region accolades. The Bluejays lost the talents of Third-Team All-American Kelli Browning to graduation, but brings in a recruiting class ranked No. 11 nationally, led by outside hitter Taryn Kloth who was the state of South Dakota’s Player of the Year and was ranked the nation’s No. 18 recruit by PrepVolleyball.com.
Marquette will look to return to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth-straight season in 2015 after concluding last season with a 24-9 overall record. MU returns nine players, led by the Golden Eagles’ unanimous vote to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team , Meghan Niemann. The middle hitter earned 2014 First Team All-BIG EAST honors and was a 2013 AVCA All-American honorable mention. Niemann averaged 1.88 kills per game, a 31.6 hitting percentage and 1.25 blocks per game. Marquette will also add five newcomers to the roster, which consists of two redshirt freshmen, a redshirt junior, a junior transfer from Long Beach State and one true freshman. Redshirt freshman Jenna Rosenthal will make her first appearance on the court for the Golden Eagles after playing for USA Volleyball’s Collegiate National Team in 2015.
Third-place pick
Xavier will have a new face on the sidelines as Christy Pfeffenberger will begin her first season as head coach of the Musketeers. The Musketeers finished last season 19-12 overall and 12-6 in conference and saw their season end in the semifinals in the BIG EAST Championship, losing to eventual winners, Creighton. Xavier returns three starters including All-BIG EAST preseason unanimous pick Abbey Bessler, a junior outside hitter ranked sixth in the BIG EAST in total points last season. Bessler had 420 total kills and was voted to the BIG EAST Championship All-Tournament team, All-BIG EAST First Team and AVCA All-Region honorable mention. The Musketeers also bring in five newcomers including a junior transfer from Louisville, Brooke Betts.
Both St. John’s and Butler finished just outside the BIG EAST Championship field in 2014 and both teams boast two players to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team.
St. John’s finished 8-10 in league play and 19-14 overall in 2014 and returns preseason All-BIG EAST honorees Karin Palgutova and Shawna-Lei Santos. Palgutova was the only senior who received unanimous votes from the BIG EAST coaches. The outside hitter totaled 523 kills, 333 digs in 2014 and earned All-BIG EAST First Team honors, ECAC Second Team All-Star accolades and AVCA All-East Coast Region honorable mention. Santos had 4.48 digs and 2.51 assists per set in 2014.
Butler’s preseason All-BIG EAST selections Kayla Bivins and Makayla Ferguson will lead the Bulldogs in 2015 after Butler finished fifth in league play in 2014 with a 20-10 overall record and 12-6 league mark. Ferguson was the 2014 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year as a setter who averaged 10.52 assists per set overall and 10.45 assists per set in league action. Bivins, a redshirt junior and middle blocker, had 1.40 blocks per set for 153 total blocks last season.
Seton Hall’s coaching staff was voted the 2014 BIG EAST and AVCA East Coach Region Coach of the Year after leading the Pirates to the BIG EAST Championship finals and NCAA Tournament in 2014. The Pirates also boasted multiple returning players on the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team with Tessa Fournier and Amanda Hansen. Fournier set Seton Hall’s single-season digs record in 2014 with 700. Fournier was the 2014 BIG EAST Libero of the Year, an All-BIG EAST First Team honoree and AVCA All-America honorable mention. Hansen, a senior middle blocker, led the Pirates with a .310 attack percentage and was voted Second Team All-BIG EAST. The Pirates will be without the talents of Shelbey and Stacey Manthorpe, both All-BIG EAST First Team honorees, but bring in a seven-member freshman class.
Preseason All-BIG EAST outside hitter Lauren Carpenter will lead
Villanova in 2015. Carpenter, a senior, had 3.37 kills per set overall and 2.82 kills per set in conference action last season. The Wildcats will also see the return of Gabby Pethokoukis who redshirted last season. Pethokoukis earned second team All-BIG EAST honors in 2013.
Georgetown will have nine new players this year, with eight freshmen and a transfer making up the 29th-ranked recruiting class in the country according to Prepvolleybal.com. The Hoyas top returners are senior outside hitter Lauren Saar and junior middle blocker Ashlie Williams.
The Blue Demons are led by returners Colleen Smith and Caitlyn Coffey. Smith, a junior, recorded five double-doubles last year in BIG EAST play for
DePaul and totaled 959 assists for the year. Coffey, a sophomore middle hitter, averaged 2.02 kills per set in 2014.
Providence welcomes five newcomers to a roster led by a heavy upperclassman presence. Juniors Kayla Johnson, Kayla Fitzgerald, Michelle Cruz and Abigail Dix, and seniors Jordan Wiesler and Nicole Fletcher return for the Friars.
The BIG EAST Volleyball season officially starts Aug. 28 with league play beginning on Wednesday, Sept. 23 when Xavier travels to Marquette and DePaul hosts Butler. The Bluejays are set to host the 2015 BIG EAST Championship, which is slated for Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 27-28.
2015 Preseason Volleyball All-BIG EAST Team and Awards Preseason Player of the Year – Jess Bird, Creighton, Jr., OH
Preseason All-BIG EAST(listed alphabetically by institution, then last name)Kayla Bivins, Butler, R-Jr., MB
Makayla Ferguson, Butler, So. S
^ Jess Bird, Creighton, Jr., OH
Kate Elman, Creighton, Sr., DS
^ Lauren Smith, Creighton, R-Jr., MB
^ Meghan Niemann, Marquette, RS-Jr., MH
^ Karin Palgutova, St. John’s, Sr., OH
Shawna-Lei Santos, St. John’s, Sr., L/DS
Tessa Fournier, Seton Hall, Jr., L
Amanda Hansen, Seton Hall, Sr., MB
Lauren Carpenter, Villanova, Sr., OH
^ Abbey Bessler, Xavier, Jr., OH
Preseason Coaches’ Poll First place votes in ( ) - ^ Creighton – 81 pts. (9)
- Marquette – 69 pts. (1)
- Xavier – 62 pts.
- St. John’s – 53 pts.
- Butler – 52 pts.
- Seton Hall – 41 pts.
- Villanova – 34 pts.
- Georgetown – 28 pts.
- DePaul – 20 pts.
- Providence – 10 pts.
^ - denotes unanimous selection