With four straight USA South divisional titles, the Covenant volleyball team was once again selected as the favorite in the West Division as the conference released its annual preseason coaches' poll on Thursday.
Covenant, under seventh year head coach Joanna Ehman, made it four consecutive regular season divisional titles last season as the Scots finished 12-2 in the league. The Scots garnered five first place votes in the poll and totaled 46 points to edge out Huntingdon (42 points) and Maryville (38 points).
Each divisional preseason poll only includes votes from coaches within that particular division-only.
Head coaches do not vote for their own teams in the balloting.
The Scots return four starters from last year's squad, including All-USA South West Division selections in Alexa Spurling and Emily Moore. Covenant has won a divisional crown in each year since 2015 and the Scots are 49-8 against the USA South over that span.
Huntingdon tallied two first place votes, while Maryville had the final one. Piedmont ranked fourth in the poll with 30 points and LaGrange rounded out the top five with 28 points.
Defending conference tournament champion Meredith topped the East Division poll with 63 points and seven first place votes. William Peace received two first place votes and 53 points.
Covenant opens the regular season on Aug. 30 at Birmingham Southern in the McAttack Bash.