SCAC Predictions (2024)

The SCAC released their predictions on the upcoming volleyball season today. This conference has only the coaches doing the heavy lifting (voting) and they have predicted Trinity will again win the conference. The Tigers received 10 of the 11 first place votes with Colorado College picking up the other first place vote (and finishing 2nd overall). What was interesting in this one is that Southwestern isn’t third…or fourth. Texas Lutheran and St Thomas round out the top 4 with Southwestern coming in fifth. You can’t really argue with the coaches after Southwestern nearly missed the SCAC Tournament all-together last year.

In my Preseason Top 25, I only had Trinity ranked so I obviously agree with the coaches. I also like Colorado College for second and they just finished outside of my rankings. I struggle a bit with TLU third as they are losing a lot of statistics to graduation and I’m unsure if they can replace the losses. Based on the last couple of years, however, their performance would have them where the coaches put them. I probably would have St Thomas third with Southwestern fourth (pains me to write that). I’d then have TLU just based on their recent successes. The other six are a little more difficult to place. Schreiner enjoyed a nice season in 2023 but are losing quite a bit to graduation. Still these are not your pre-COVID Mountaineers. Austin College is another squad that is losing a lot but Schreiner and AC are who the coaches have in 6th and 7th. Here’s the thing, I just don’t see a large difference between these two teams and the other four and I think the last few spots for the SCAC Tournament will be very competitive this year (like last year).

One item of note from the article is the explanation as to how the conference is structured and how teams will be selected for their tournament. There will be two divisions (blue and gold). The Blue Division will consist of Austin College, Centenary, Colorado College, Dallas, McMurry and St Thomas. The Gold Division will consist of Concordia, Schreiner, Southwestern, Texas Lutheran and Trinity. Each division will play twice within the division and once outside of the division so the schedules will not be balanced. For volleyball, the Gold Division has 4 of the 6 teams the coaches picked to be in the top half of the conference. Ouch. The top 3 teams from each division will make the conference tournament and there will be two wildcard teams who own the best conference record regardless of division. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. Austin College is due to host the SCAC Tournament this year.

Alright, for those that follow me on Twitter, you know I’m on vacation but will be returning tomorrow. Let’s hope the other conferences hold off on any news. Whoops. Too late as I just noticed that I missed the C2C preview. More on that to follow.

Here is the full poll: