Three-time Champion Creighton Selected No. 1 In #BIGEASTvb Preseason Poll
NEW YORK – Three-time BIG EAST Champion Creighton was selected as the pre No. 1 team unanimously for the fourth year in a row in the 2017 BIG EAST Preseason Coaches’ Poll. Creighton senior setter Lydia Dimke was picked as the Preseason Player of the Year.
Creighton’s unanimous preseason selection with 81 points was followed by Butler with 66 points, then Marquette with 62 points and the final first place vote and Xavier (51 points).
Villanova was picked fifth (46 points) with St. John’s close behind at sixth (43 points). DePaul was voted to finish seventh with 36 points, followed by Seton Hall (35 points), Georgetown (21 points) and Providence (9 points), rounding out the bottom three.
In addition to coaches’ poll and preseason player of the year, the coaches also selected a non-positional 12-member preseason all-conference team, which was announced on Wednesday by the conference. The all-conference team consisted of seven unanimous picks. First-place pick Creighton had the league-most honors with four, followed by Marquette with two. Seven of the 12 were outside hitters, two were middle blockers/hitters with two setters and a libero/defensive specialist. Ten of the 12 received All-BIG EAST honors from 2016, nine returning from the first team. The preseason All-BIG EAST team consisted of three seniors, six juniors and three sophomores.
Preseason Player of the Year Dimke returns to the court as the reigning BIG EAST Player of the Year. Dimke, a senior from Ham Lake, Minn., ranked second nationally in assists (1,454) in 2016 and was a Third Team All-American by the AVCA and the BIG EAST league leader in assists (11.36) and digs (2.67) per set. Dimke is Creighton’s fourth different preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year in the last five years, joining Kelli Browning (2013), Jess Bird (2015) and Jaali Winters (2016).
Preseason favorite
Creighton has won the BIG EAST tournament for the past three years. The Bluejays ended 2016 by making their first Elite Eight appearance in program history and ranked No. 9 in the final AVCA poll. Creighton returns five starters and 11 letterwinners from last year’s 29-7 team which includes Dimke and three additional preseason all-conference selections in Jaali Winters, Taryn Kloth and Brittany Witt. Outside hitters Winters and Kloth were unanimous selections. Winters earned First Team All-BIG EAST honors and All-America honors in both 2015 and 2016 after leading the Bluejays in kills in both seasons. Winters was named MVP of the 2016 BIG EAST Championships and averaged 3.61 kills per set last season while also topping all BIG EAST attackers with 2.90 digs per set. Kloth averaged 3.20 kills per set on .277 hitting as a First Team All-BIG EAST honoree last fall. Witt, a sophomore, was the lone defensive specialist selected to the preseason all-conference team. Witt led Creighton with 4.09 digs per set last season. Her 524 digs paced all league freshmen and helped her earn AVCA East Region Freshman of the Year honors.
The coaches’ second-place pick
Butler returns first team all-conference honoree Anna Logan to the Bulldog roster in 2017. Logan, a unanimous preseason all-league selection, was an AVCA All-America honorable mention last season as she posted 4.27 kills per set, second highest in the BIG EAST play. Logan averaged 4.91 points with 2.89 digs per set. Butler finished tied for fifth last season, just outside of the tournament field with a 9-9 league season and a 20-14 overall record.
Marquette, the coaches third place selection, placed two on the preseason all-conference team with RS-Jr. middle hitter Jenna Rosenthal and sophomore outside hitter Allie Barber, last year’s Co-Freshman of the Year. Both players earned All-BIG EAST First Team honors in 2016. Rosenthal was unanimously voted to the preseason all-league team as an AVCA All-Region selection who led the league in hitting (.416) and blocks per set (1.41). Barber averaged 2.20 kills per set in BIG EAST matches this season and compiled a .318 hitting percentage.
Xavier, who finished runner up at the 2016 BIG EAST Tournament, was picked fourth in the league poll. The Musketeers will boast the talents of Kristen Massa, a senior outside hitter who was a 2015 all-BIG EAST First Team selection. Xavier returns three starters and a libero, but lost the talents of All-BIG EAST First Teamers Abbey Bessler and Sofia Peterson as well as middle blocker Brooke Betts.
Marquette and Xavier tied for second in the 2016 final standings with matching 13-5 records.
Fifth, sixth and seventh-place
Villanova, St. John’s and
DePaul each placed one on the 2017 BIG EAST preseason all-conference team. Villanova tied for fifth at the end of last year’s regular season with a 9-9 record. St. John’s and DePaul tied for seventh with matching 7-11 conference records. Villanova outside hitter Allie Loitz, a 2016 First Team honoree returns for her senior season as a preseason all-conference selection. Loitz tallied 3.36 kills per set last season. St. John’s returns Co-Freshman of the Year Erica Di Maulo, a sophomore setter and unanimous preseason selection who averaged 10.04 assists and 1.76 digs per set last season. DePaul boasts the talent of Brittany Maxwell, a junior right-side hitter who was a 2016 First Team All-BIG EAST honoree and unanimous preseason pick for the Blue Demons. Maxwell led the team in kills per set (3.42), which was sixth in the BIG EAST.
Just one point shy of DePaul,
Seton Hall was picked eighth in the poll. The Pirates finished fourth in last year’s final standings with a 10-8 record. Missing from the Pirates’ roster in 2017 will be Tessa Fournier, the three-time BIG EAST Libero of the Year and all-conference honoree Danielle Schroeder.
Georgetown, picked ninth had junior middle blocker Symone Speech representing the Hoyas on the preseason all-BIG EAST list. Speech averaged 2.86 kills per set with .327 hitting in league play last season.
Providence rounded out the poll after a 1-17 season in 2016. The Friars lost the talents of libero Michelle Cruz and outside hitter Kayla Fitzgerald to graduation.
The BIG EAST Preseason Volleyball Coaches’ Poll, Player of the Year and all-conference selections are based on ballots cast by the league’s 10 head coaches, who cannot vote for their own team or student-athletes.
2017 Preseason BIG EAST Volleyball Honors
Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year – Lydia Dimke, Creighton, Sr., Setter
Preseason All-BIG EAST
(listed alphabetically by institution, then last name)
Anna Logan, Butler, Jr., OH ^
Lydia Dimke, Creighton, Sr., S ^
Taryn Kloth, Creighton, Jr., OH ^
Jaali Winters, Creighton, Jr., OH ^
Brittany Witt, Creighton, So., DS
Brittany Maxwell, DePaul, Jr., RS ^
Symone Speech, Georgetown, Jr., MB
Allie Barber, Marquette, So., OH
Jenna Rosenthal, Marquette, RS-Jr., MH ^
Erica Di Maulo, St. John’s, So., S ^
Allie Loitz, Villanova, Sr., OH
Kristen Massa, Xavier, Sr., OH
2017 Preseason Coaches’ Poll
First-place votes in ( )
| 1. Creighton (9) |
81 pts. |
| 2. Butler |
66 |
| 3. Marquette (1) |
62 |
| 4. Xavier |
51 |
| 5. Villanova |
46 |
| 6. St. John’s |
43 |
| 7. DePaul |
36 |
| 8. Seton Hall |
35 |
| 9. Georgetown |
21 |
| 10. Providence |
9 |
^ - denotes unanimous selection