Wernert Named To Conference USA Preseason Volleyball Team
August 01, 2007 | Volleyball
Aug. 1, 2007
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Senior outside hitter Kelley Wernert was one of 11 student-athletes named to the 2007 Conference USA Preseason Volleyball Team as announced by the league office Wednesday. The Hoffman Estates, Ill. native is the first East Carolina player to garner preseason honors in the Pirates' six seasons in C-USA.
The league's head coaches also picked ECU to finish ninth in the preseason poll after the Pirates finished the 2006 season in sixth place.
Wernert was also named to last year's All-Conference USA first team after leading ECU and ranking sixth in the conference with 4.39 kills per game. The senior will be expected to guide the five starters and eight letterwinners that return from a squad that finished 19-12 overall and a program-best 10-6 in conference play.
Headlining the 12-team league for the second-consecutive year is preseason favorite Marshall, followed by Tulane and UAB. The Thundering Herd, which won the 2005 C-USA regular season and tournament titles, concluded the 2006 campaign with an overall record of 20-12 and the second-best conference mark of 12-4. Marshall will also serve as host of the 2007 C-USA Volleyball Championship Nov. 15-18 in Huntington, W. Va.
ECU will open the season Aug. 24 when it takes on ACC opponent Duke in the first match of the Duke Invitational at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham. The Pirates will also battle Purdue and Winthrop to close out the tournament.
2007 Preseason All-C-USA Team
Student-Athlete School Pos. Ht. Cl. Hometown Kelly-Anne Billingy Marshall OH 6-3 Sr. Trincity, Trinidad Ivana Bozic UAB OH 6-1 Jr. Arandjelovac, Serbia Shelby Burton Memphis MB 6-1 Sr. San Antonio, Texas Laura Côté Memphis S 5-8 Jr Saskatoon, Canada Fernanda Domingos UAB OH 5-10 Jr. Franca, Brazil Justine Farmer Houston OH 5-10 Jr. El Paso, Texas Rachel Giubilato SMU OH 5-11 Sr. San Diego, Calif. Jenn Miller Tulane L 5-9 So. San Pedro, Calif. Sara Radosevic Tulane OH 6-1 Jr. Zagreb, Croatia Julia Silva Tulsa S 5-11 Jr. Rio De Janeiro, Brazil Kelley Wernert ECU OH 6-0 Sr. Hoffman Estates, Ill.
2007 Conference USA Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Marshall (4) 130 2. Tulane (3) 128 3. UAB (4) 123 4. Memphis 107 5. Houston (1) 83 5. Tulsa 83 7. SMU 70 8. Rice 68 9. East Carolina 66 10. Southern Miss 36 11. UTEP 23 12. UCF 19
(#) First Place Votes in Parenthesis
