Trojans Receive Votes in NAIA Preseason Poll

NAIA Preseason Top-25 Poll

UPLAND, Ind. – The TU Volleyball program received votes in the NAIA Preseason Top-25 poll released Wednesday morning. Taylor picked up seven votes, good for a spot in the top 50 teams entering the season.

The Trojans return a pair of All-Crossroads League players in McKaylah Flagle and Lindsay Springer. Flagle was one of the top liberos in the NAIA a season ago, notching 550 digs and 4.87 digs per set. Flagle surpassed 1,500 career digs in the final match of last season and sits in fourth in program history with a career mark of 4.05 digs per set. Springer has shined as the setter in her two seasons at TU, collecting 2,442 assists in 239 sets for an average of 10.22 assists per set. Springer is fifth in program history in assists per set and became more of an offense threat last season by almost doubling her kill total to 76.  

In addition, Taylor returns Daya Vestal, who was named to the Crossroads League All-Freshman Team after finishing the year strong with 87 kills and 33 blocks in 49 sets. Reagan Kleiman also returns after producing a team-best 2.65 kills per set and 252 total kills, which was second on the squad.

TU has a couple of newcomers ready to contribute, with Ellie Frey, a transfer from Grand Canyon, chief among them. Frey was named to the GCU All-Invitational Team and collected 107 kills and 55 digs in 54 sets for the Lopes. Mackenzie Gerig comes to the Trojans after a year at Calvin, where she recorded 359 digs, 3.95 digs per set and 27 service aces as the team's libero. Margo Hernandez joins the Trojans after two years at South Alabama, where she performed well in spot duty with 18 assists and 17 digs in 36 sets.

The Trojans begin the season at the Palm Beach Juniors Classic hosted by Keiser on Friday, August 15, with a match against Keiser (0-0) at 10:00 am, before facing off with No. 11 Montana Western (0-0) at noon.