ROCK HILL, SC--Winthrop's 2011 volleyball team has been picked to finish fourth in the Big South Conference this year and senior Becca Toor has been voted the Preseason Player of the Year in the annual poll of the league's head volleyball coaches.
The Eagles will be led by new head coach Julie Torbett who takes over the program following 19 years at UNC Asheville. Winthrop is coming off a 14-16 overall season and a fourth place finish in the conference after posting a 10-6 league record. The majority of Winthrop's roster this year will be freshmen as seven newcomers will be joining six returning players.
Toor (Rotunda West, FL) who finished second in the conference last season in hitting percentage with a .329 average, is the only senior on this year's team in athletic eligibility. She recorded 336 kills last season and posted 19 matches with double-digit kills. Against UNC Asheville last Nov. 5, Toor put down a career-high 22 kills. The Winthrop middle hitter ranked eighth in the Big South with 0.87 blocks per game and amassed 100 total blocks during the 2010 campaign. She was a Second-Team All-Big South selection a season ago and is the fourth Winthrop player to be voted Preseason Big South Player of the Year, its first since 2008.
Liberty, last year's regular season champion has been picked to capture the 2011 title for the first time since 2009 and for the seventh time in school history. The Lady Flames received nine first-place votes to finish with 99 points. High Point, last year's tournament champion, finished second in the poll with 81 points, its highest standing in the preseason poll. Coastal Carolina garnered one top bid and 78 points to come in at No. 3, followed by Winthrop with 70 points .In fifth is new Big South member Campbell with 53 points. Charleston Southern and UNC Asheville tied for the No. 6 slot with 45 points, ahead of Presbyterian College's 36 points. Radford was picked No. 9 with 25 points and Gardner-Webb rounds out the list with 18 points.
Toor was the only Winthrop player selected on the Preseason All-Conference Team.
Liberty led the way with three student-athletes in Jade Craycraft, Loren Thomas and Kelly Haseman. Michelle Chakirelis of High Point, Meghan Laffin of Coastal Carolina, Presley Mabry of Presbyterian College and Cindi Miller of UNC Asheville joined Toor on the squad.
Winthrop opens the 2011 volleyball season at home on August 26-27 when the Eagles host the two-day Winthrop Invitational by Hampton Inn. The women's volleyball Conference Championship is slated for Thursday-Sunday, Nov. 17-20 on the campus of Charleston Southern.
