North Carolina Volleyball Tops Pre-Season Coaches Poll



July 7, 2000

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Defending ACC champion North Carolina has been selected by the league's nine head coaches as the pre-season favorite for the upcoming 2000 ACC volleyball season.

The Tar Heels, coached by Joe Sagula, garnered 73 votes out of a possible 81 to earn the honor. Carolina returns four starters from last year's squad including 1999 All-ACC selections Liz Feldman and Casey Simpson. Also returning are 1999 All-ACC Freshman Team members Laura Greene and Eve Rackham.

The 1999 Tar Heels won the ACC Championship to go along with a second place ACC regular season finish. Carolina also advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament for only the second time in school history.

Georgia Tech finished second in the pre-season voting with 65 points, Wake Forest third with 59 points and last year's regular season champion Clemson finished fourth with 56 points.

Rounding out the voting were Virginia with 42 points, Duke with 39 points, Florida State with 38 points, Maryland with 21 points and N.C. State with 12 points.

2000 PRE-SEASON ACC VOLLEYBALL POLL

SchoolPoints1999 Finish, ACC
1. North Carolina7328-6, 14-2/ 2nd ACC Champion
2. Georgia Tech6517-14, 6-10/ 6th
3. Wake Forest5925-9, 10-6/3rd
4. Clemson5631-3, 15-1/1st
5. Virginia4219-12, 9-7/4th
6. Duke3913-14, 7-9/5th
7. Florida State388-23, 1-15/9th
8. Maryland2112-19, 5-11/T7th
9. N.C. State1216-19, 5-11/T7th