LAURINBURG —Two preseason coaches’ polls have been released for two St. Andrews Knights volleyball programs. Both the men’s volleyball and women’s beach volleyball teams had polls released by their respective conferences for the 2025 season over Tuesday and Wednesday.
Men’s volleyball was picked to finish in seventh place out of 10 teams in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) with 34 total poll points. The two teams that met in last season’s conference tournament championship game lead the way in the poll with Reinhardt, the defending champions, garnering six first place votes and 77 points while Webber International, the runner ups, got a single first place vote and 71 points.
The full poll results can be found below. The format is as follows: Rank. Team (first place votes) – total poll points
1. Reinhardt (6) – 77
2. Webber International (1) – 71
3. Life – 59
4. St. Thomas (1) – 58
5. Warner – 44
6. Bluefield – 36
7. St. Andrews – 34
8. Talladega – 24
9. Carolina – 22
10. Truett McConnell – 15
The Knights are coming off of a 2024 campaign that saw them go 22-10 overall and 7-5 against conference opponents. They defeated Bluefield three sets to one in the first round of the conference tournament before losing in a sweep to Reinhardt in the second round.
St. Andrews was set to open their 2025 season on Friday night at home against the Milligan Buffaloes. The contest has been cancelled with no rescheduled date known as of now. The rest of the team’s season schedule can be found on the St. Andrews Athletics website.
Beach volleyball
For the women’s beach volleyball team, they were picked to finish in eighth place out of 13 schools in the Sun Conference with 71 total poll points. The poll is led by Ave Maria, the defending regular season champions, as they racked up nine first place votes and 138 points. Webber International, the team that has won three straight tournament championships, was just behind Ave Maria with four first place votes and 136 points.
The full poll results can be found below. The format is as follows: Rank. Team (first place votes) – total poll points
1. Ave Maria (9) – 138
2. Webber International (4) – 136
3. Loyola New Orleans – 117
4. Warner – 99
5. Mobile – 89
6. William Carey – 88
7. Truett McConnell – 82
8. St. Andrews – 71
9. New College of Florida – 58
10. St. Thomas – 46
11. Florida Memorial – 37
12. Brenau – 27
13. Spartanburg Methodist – 26
The Knights are coming off of a season where they went 16-16 overall and 3-7 against conference opponents. They made it into the conference tournament as they No. 8 seed but were swept by Ave Maria in the first round. They would sweep Truett McConnell but get swept by William Carey as part of the loser’s bracket in the tournament.
St. Andrews will begin their 2025 season in just over two weeks on Feb. 6 in Cleveland, Georgia against Brenau. The game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. that day.