Volleyball News
Centre volleyball chosen to finish seventh in SCAC poll
After finishing 18-24 overall and 7-11 in league play one year ago, the Centre College volleyball team was selected to finish seventh this season in exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC). 
The Colonels, which finished sixth out of 10 schools last year, received 48 points to finish one spot lower in the preseason coaches' poll. The SCAC will now feature 12 schools with the additions of Birmingham Southern College and Colorado College.
Trinity University, which has claimed nine-straight SCAC titles, was once again selected to finish atop the standings with 118 points, including nine first place votes. The Tigers finished 34-7 overall and 17-1 in league play last season and currently own the longest streak of conference championships of any of the 19 sports sponsored by the SCAC.
Rhodes College was selected second behind Trinity garnering 108 points and the remaining two first place votes after going 29-12 and 15-3 last year. Austin College and Southwestern University tied for third place with 92 points. Austin finished 2006 34-8 and 14-4, while The Pirates ended up 30-9 and 13-5.
Finishing just ahead of Centre was Colorado and DePauw University. Colorado, which was a Division III independent last season, was picked fifth with 81 points following a 23-11 2006 season, while the Tigers of DePauw were chosen sixth with 68 points after going 20-14 and 11-7.
Following the Colonels in eighth place was Millsaps College with 46 points (13-23, 4-14). Oglethorpe University was ninth with 28 points (9-29, 3-15). Hendrix College was 10th with 26 points (13-25, 1-17) and Sewanee-University of the South rounded out the poll in 11th with 19 points (7-26, 5-13).
Birmingham Southern, in the first year of its four-year provisional transition from Division I to Division III, will not be eligible for the conference championship and all conference games against the Panthers will not count in the league standings.
In addition, the SCAC conference champion will now be decided by a season-ending tournament for the first time since the 1999 season. Previously, the conference champion had been decided by the best overall combined record in the two divisional and two cross divisional tournaments. |
