RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – With three weeks to go before the opening serve of the 2018 NCAA Division II Volleyball season, the Great American Conference released its annual preseason coaches' poll on Thursday afternoon. Southern Arkansas received 17 total points to tie for 11^th place with East Central, while the top of the poll featured reigning regular season and conference tournament champion Arkansas Tech with 120 points and ten of the dozen first place votes.
 
Under third-year head coach Britney Davis, the new-look Lady Muleriders are not fazed by the league's low expectations entering a pivotal year for the program.
 
"That will be nothing but motivation for us," noted Davis about the team's preseason ranking within the GAC. "We finally have the pieces in place and the depth in each position that creates competition within the team to grow each day throughout the season. This personnel will breed success for years to come. My coaching staff and I are very excited to get this season started."
 
The Lady Muleriders will open preseason camp on Monday, August 6, with six returners (four sophomores) and 11 newcomers, including three junior transfers and eight true freshmen. With a dozen underclassmen helping fill out the 2018 roster, Davis isn't concerned with the age of this year's squad.
 
"Being young is not something I view as a negative at all when the level of talent is as high as it is," remarked Davis. "We have more talent than we have ever had regardless of age. I love how young we are. They are all hungry to succeed. As a coaching staff if we can get them to buy into believing in themselves that hunger to be successful will take them very far."
 
For Southern Arkansas, the season begins at home inside the W.T. Watson Center on Friday, August 24 with the second-annual Dr. Margaret Downing Volleyball Invitational. This year's event includes 12 matches over the course of two days and features the Lady Muleriders playing host to five other teams: Cameron University (LSC), Mississippi College (GSC), Quincy University (GLVC), Union University (GSC), and University of Texas-Permian Basin (LSC).
 
In her previous two seasons, Davis is 7-0 against non-conference competition inside the W.T. Watson Center.
 
The early portion of the non-conference slate includes trips to Durant, Oklahoma, for the South Central Classic and to Dallas, Texas, for the Dallas Baptist Tri-Match. Rounding out the non-GAC matchups in 2018 are a pair of trips to Conway, Arkansas, for matches with Hendrix College and Central Baptist College as well as a trek east to face Mississippi College in Clinton. SAU will also face Williams Baptist College in Magnolia as part of the SAU Tri-Match.
 

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SAU opens up Great American Conference play on September 4 in Russellville against preseason favorite Arkansas Tech. It will be the first of 16 league matches for the Lady Muleriders. Most notable among the conference slate is that five of the team's remaining seven GAC matches are at home, including back-to-back matchups with Arkansas Tech and Harding; No. 2 in the preseason poll.
 
With the influx of new and young talent, preseason camp will provide an opportunity for the entire roster to make an impression early on as Davis and her staff, graduate assistants Jordan Bickett and Meg Grose, will be tasked with replacing last season's top two attackers, top four assist leaders, three of the team's top five servers as well as 2017's top five dig leaders.
 
Hitters/Middle Blockers

Southern Arkansas will look to replace a pair of outside hitters from last year's team including three-time All-GAC Honorable Mention honoree Alli O'Banion as well as Alexia Southern who led the team in kills last season with 312.
 
However, the Lady Muleriders won't be without experience along the front row as Seven Powers returns for her junior campaign after accounting for 226 kills and 44 total blocks last fall. Sophomore Morgan Gross adds experience along the right side after a solid rookie season saw her produce 104 kills, 72 digs, 24 total blocks and 17 service aces.
 
Three new outside hitters join the program this fall led by Northeastern Oklahoma A&M transfer Katie Heese and decorated true freshmen Rylea Brimhall and Ciarra Wright.
 
Sophomores Bailey Cagle and Lauren Smith are back for the Lady Muleriders after posting high-impact freshmen campaigns in the middle a season ago. Both players, in separate matches last fall, recorded eight block assists; the fourth-most in a match in the Rally Scoring Era (RSE). Cagle's nine total blocks vs. Henderson State stand as the third-most in a single match in the RSE, while Smith's eight block assists in the same match rank fifth. Cagle's 86 total block assists as a rookie are the third-most in a single season in the RSE.
 
Last season, the duo combined for 161 total blocks led by Cagle's 100 at the GAC's ninth-highest blocks per set clip of .87 and the two added a combined 237 kills and 93 digs, while Cagle's 22 service aces were the second-most on the team.
 
Newcomer Christina Potter, a junior transfer from Lamar Community College, will look to have an immediate impact on the front row as a middle blocker, while true freshmen Abby Bermudez and Lilliah Pugh provide added depth at the position after highly-productive prep careers.
 
Setters
 
A trio of true freshmen will compete for the starting job as the team's setter. Lexi Kruse, Caitlin Murdock, and Fabiola Rivera arrive on campus after successful prep careers and will provide Davis and her staff with options at the sparkplug point. The Lady Muleriders ranked 11^th in the GAC in assists per set (11.37) last fall after producing just 11.15 assists in Davis' first season.
 
Liberos/Defensive Specialists
 
Bailey Zoss, the team's lone senior this fall, returns after seeing limited action as a junior. Zoss saw time in 24 sets as a defensive specialist recording double-digit digs in a pair of matches to finish with 46 for the season. Kayley Davis, a junior transfer from St. Gregory's University and a two-time All-Sooner Athletic Conference honoree, will compete for a spot along the back row.
 
Sophomore Alana Perez played in 57 sets last fall recording 113 digs, while making three starts as the team's libero. Perez is the lone listed libero on the roster.
 
Camryn Bihary, a freshman defensive specialist and the Area 6 Player of the Year last season for Kennesaw High School (GA) as a libero, joins Davis' program and will compete for a spot along the back row as Southern Arkansas looks to improve their backline defense from a year ago.
 

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Despite a young roster with little experience playing with each other, Davis didn't hesitate when asked about a strength of her team entering preseason camp. "The commitment this team already has, with all of our girls voluntarily coming back before the start of July to live together, lift and condition together, and play volleyball together on campus gives us a head start going into our preseason training," stated Davis.
 
One of the first main focuses for the team early on in camp will be discipline noted Davis. "They know what it takes to take our program to the next level. Being disciplined is our main goal this season. These girls have the heart to accomplish anything they set their mind to. If they choose to stay disciplined and motivated as a team they will experience the success that they have been working towards."