Chattanooga volleyball senior MB Dani Szczepanski (Cincinnati, Ohio) earned a spot on the Preseason All-Southern Conference squad while the Mocs earned a seventh-place prediction in the preseason coaches' poll, the league office announced Thursday afternoon.
Coaches were not allowed to vote for their respective team or student-athletes in the balloting.
Chattanooga earned 30 points in the poll voted upon by fellow league coaches, trailing sixth-place UNCG (32) by two points and fifth-place ETSU (33) by three.
Defending Southern Conference champion Samford earned seven first-place votes and was predicted to repeat behind 63 total points.
Mercer (52) and Furman (51) each picked up a first-place vote to round-out the league's top three spots. Wofford (40) followed in fourth. Behind Chattanooga in eighth and ninth place were Western Carolina (13) and The Citadel (10), respectively.
Szczepanski is coming off an All-Southern Conference Second Team selection a year ago after leading the conference in attacking percentage (.347). She currently ranks fourth all-time at UTC with a .298 career attacking percentage while sitting tenth in block assists (197) and 11th in total blocks (238).
The full preseason coaches' poll and all-conference team selections are below.
2019 Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Samford (7) 63
2. Mercer (1) 52
3. Furman (1) 51
4. Wofford 40
5. ETSU 33
6. UNCG 32
7. Chattanooga 30
8. Western Carolina 13
9. The Citadel 10
() denotes first-place votes
2019 Volleyball Preseason All-Conference Team
OH, Sharlissa De Jesus, The Citadel
LIB, Marija Popovic, ETSU
MB, Courtney Hoffman, Furman
RS, Brittany Major, Mercer
OH, Roberta Todd, Mercer
OH, Lauren Deaton, Samford
RS, Kelsi Hobbs, Samford
MB, Dani Szczepanski, Chattanooga
OH, Catie Cronister, Wofford
Chattanooga (0-0) opens the 2019 campaign at the StarkVegas Classic in Starkville, Miss., against SEC-member and host, Mississippi State on August 30. Western Illinois and Mississippi Valley State, in addition to UTC and MSU, round out the tournament field.
The season-opening match will be carried LIVE on SEC Network+ through the ESPN platform. Game coverage links can be found on the schedule page.
Chattanooga will welcome Georgia State to Maclellan Gym for a preseason exhibition match this Saturday, August 24, at Noon. Admission is FREE and open to the public.