NEW YORK – Creighton, fresh off its sixth BIG EAST Volleyball Championship title, was selected by the league’s head coaches as the preseason favorite to win the 2021 BIG EAST regular season title. St. John’s senior outside hitter Efrosini Alexakou was voted Preseason Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. Alexakou returns to the court for her senior season as the reigning BIG EAST Player of the Year.
 
The Bluejays won the BIG EAST Volleyball Championship Presented by JEEP this past spring, advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the ninth consecutive season.
 
In the preseason poll, Creighton was the top pick in the conference, receiving 97 points and eight first-place votes. Marquette, which met Creighton in the final of the BIG EAST Championship last season, was selected second after garnering 93 points and the remaining first-place votes. St. John’s, the winner of the 2019 BIG EAST Championship, was selected third with 83 points. Xavier rounded out the top four, picking up 68 points in the poll.
 
Villanova was selected fifth (56 points), while Connecticut and DePaul (48 points) tied for sixth. Rounding out the poll was Providence (44 points), Butler (31 points), Seton Hall (27 points) and Georgetown (10 points). Georgetown did not play last season.
 
The BIG EAST will return to a regular league schedule this fall after playing divisionally last spring, which was due to changes made for the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Alexakou was the third St. John’s player to earn BIG EAST Player of the Year accolades. As a junior, Alexakou led the BIG EAST during conference play with 4.31 kills per set, and currently sits 10^th in program history in kills with 1,154. The outside hitter from Thessaloniki, Greece registered seven double-doubles last season, including a stretch of six consecutive matches with a double-double from Feb. 14 to March 13. Alexakou secured an AVCA All-American Honorable Mention nod last season, as well as being named to the All-BIG EAST Tournament team. Alexakou was a unanimous All-BIG EAST honoree last season.
 
Along with Alexakou, the 2021 Preseason All-BIG EAST squad has three other unanimous selections: Creighton senior outside hitter Jaela Zimmerman, Marquette graduate middle blocker Savannah Rennie, and Marquette graduate right side/setter Taylor Wolf. The complete preseason all-conference team is listed below. All 12 members were a part of last spring’s All-BIG EAST Team.
 
The BIG EAST Preseason Volleyball Coaches’ Poll, Player of the Year and All-Conference selections are based on ballots cast by the league’s 11 head coaches, who cannot vote for their own team or student-athletes.
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Preseason BIG EAST Volleyball Honors
 
Preseason BIG EAST Volleyball Player of the Year
Efrosini Alexakou, St. John’s, Sr., OH
 
Preseason All-BIG EAST
(listed alphabetically by institution, then last name)
Melody Davidson, Butler, R-Sr., MB
Caylee Parker, Connecticut, Sr., OH
Naomi Hickman, Creighton, Sr., MB
Jaela Zimmerman, Creighton, Sr., OH^
Savannah Rennie, Marquette, Gr., MB^
Taylor Wolf, Marquette, Gr., RS/S^
Allison Barber, Providence, Gr., S
Efrosini Alexakou, St. John’s, Sr., OH^
Rachele Rastelli, St. John’s, Sr., RS
Tsvetelina Ilieva, Seton Hall, So. OH
Averi Salvador, Villanova, Gr., L/DS
Carrigan O’Reilly, Xavier, Jr., S/RS
 
Preseason Coaches’ Polls
First-place votes in ()
 

1. Creighton (8)	97 pts.
2. Marquette (3)	93
3. St. John’s	83
4. Xavier	68
5. Villanova	56
T-6. Connecticut	48
T-6. DePaul	48
8. Providence	44
9. Butler	31
10. Seton Hall	27
11. Georgetown	10

 
^ denotes unanimous selection