DALLAS – Conference USA unveiled its preseason poll and honors for the 2021 season and 2020 NCAA Tournament participants Rice and WKU were predicted the top finishers, as voted by the league’s 14 head coaches. Rice senior outside hitter Nicole Lennon was chosen as the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year.
 
Rice (18-5 overall last season), winners of the conference’s West Division title in 2020 is No. 23 in the preseason AVCA poll. The Owls won the C-USA West Division with a 12-0 conference record last year and earned an NCAA Tournament at-large bid for a second straight season. Rice finished last season ranked No. 23 in the final AVCA poll and returns all six starters and libero.
 
WKU (23-1 overall last season), the defending C-USA champion, is ranked No. 16 in the preseason AVCA poll. The Hilltoppers return all 14 players from its spring squad that made a historic run to the program’s first Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament in Omaha, Nebraska. Last season, WKU earned both the C-USA East Division title and C-USA Championship title before suffering its only loss to Kentucky, the eventual national champions. WKU was No. 16 in the final AVCA poll last season.
 
Lennon was named the C-USA Player of the Year last season for the second time in her career (also won the award in 2018), and was named to first team All-Conference USA honors for the third time. She became the first Rice player to earn AVCA third team All-America honors and was on the AVCA Southwest Region Team. She also earned C-USA All-Tournament honors and was a three-time C-USA Offensive Player of the Week selection. Lennon played in all 77 sets last season, and she was second in C-USA in points per set (5.03-20th in NCAA), second in C-USA in total kills (329-14th in NCAA), points (387.5-9th in NCAA), kills per set (4.27-28th in NCAA), attacks per set (10.97) and total attacks (845-26th in NCAA. She posted five matches with 20 or more kills, including a season-high 26 kills in a win over North Texas. She collected a team-high 11 double-doubles and had seven matches with a hitting percentage of .300 or better.
 
The top four teams in each division will qualify for the 2021 C-USA Volleyball Championship. Old Dominion will host the eight-team, single-elimination tournament November 19-21 in Norfolk, Virginia.
 
2021 Conference USA Preseason Team
Emani' Foster, Charlotte, Fr., OH
Ciara Debell, Marshall, Gr., OH
Destiny Leon, Marshall, Gr., MB
Rhett Robinson, North Texas, Sr., OH
Anota Adekunle, Rice, Jr., MB
Carly Graham, Rice, Jr., S
Nicole Lennon, Rice, Sr., OH
Fernanda Maida, UAB, Jr., OH/RS
Serena Patterson, UTEP, Sr., OH
Paige Briggs, WKU, Jr., OH
Nadia Dieudonne, WKU, 5th., S
Lauren Matthews, WKU, Sr., MH
 
2021 C-USA Preseason Player of the Year
Nicole Lennon, Rice, Sr., OH
 
C-USA 2021 Preseason Poll
East Division
1. WKU (5)
2. Charlotte (1)
3. Marshall
4. Middle Tennessee
5. Old Dominion
6. Florida Atlantic
7. FIU (1)
 
West Division
1. Rice (7)
2. UTEP
3. North Texas
4. UAB
5. UTSA
6. Southern Miss
7. Louisiana Tech
(Divisional first-place votes in parenthesis)