Lee University was picked to finish third in Gulf South Conference volleyball this season, behind reigning champion West Florida and Alabama-Huntsville, and Lady Flames seniors Silvia Sartori and MaKayla Beebe were voted to the coaches' preseason all-conference team. Sartori has 1,073 kills and 867 digs in three seasons and is a three-time All-GSC selection, while Beebe has 1,290 digs and is a two-time all-league honoree. Senior middle blocker Alex Reuter and junior right-side hitter Quinne Daoust are other key returners for Lee, and junior Hanna Matthews becomes the primary setter. Coach Andrea Hudson's team opens its season Aug. 24 in the Oredigger Classic in Golden, Colorado.
* Bryan College and Tennessee Wesleyan University were picked ninth and 10th out of 14 teams in the Appalachian Athletic Conference volleyball coaches' poll released this week. Reinhardt got 13 first-place votes and led the projections, with 2017 AAC tournament winner Union College second, Point third and Montreat fourth. Only the top eight teams will advance to the 2018 league tournament Nov. 8-10 in Kingsport, Tennessee.
Soccer
* Even with new coaches, the Tennessee Wesleyan University and Bryan College women's soccer teams parlayed their AAC championships from last year into predictions for top-two finishes in the 13-team league this season. In the coaches' poll released Friday, TWU got seven first-place votes and 158 total points and Bryan got four firsts and tied Milligan for second place with 143 points. Truett McConnell was a close fourth with 138, and Reinhardt was fifth with 124 and a 25-point margin over the fifth-place duo of Point and Columbia College. Bryan won the AAC regular-season title in 2017 and TWU tied for second and then won the conference tournament for the second year in a row, reached the NAIA national quarterfinals and finished 15-5-2 and ranked No. 11 in the nation. Success led to coaches' departures, and now Bryan Walker is directing TWU's Lady Bulldogs while Eric "Kwame" Appiah is guiding Bryan's Lady Lions. Both teams officially begin their 2018 seasons Aug. 21, Bryan at home against Campbellsville and TWU at Cumberland.
* Bryan also was picked second in the AAC men's soccer preseason poll, with a first-place vote and 106 points to defending regular-season champion Reinhardt's seven (of 11) and 116. Truett McConnell, which won the 2017 AAC tournament, was third with two firsts and 103 points, and Union College and TWU were fourth and fifth with 89 and 81. TWU opens its season next Friday at 5 p.m. at home against Middle Georgia State; Bryan's guys host West Virginia Tech on Aug. 25.
* Carson-Newman University men's soccer coach Stephen Lyons, a former Tennessee Wesleyan star and coach, has added David Baisden from his alma mater as graduate assistant. Baisden was a four-year starter as a defender at TWU - twice first-team All-AAC - and then became a volunteer assistant and last year a full-time assistant for the Athens-based Bulldogs. He also has coached the McMinn United FC under-16 and -18 teams. Also like Lyons, he's from Middlesbrough, England. "I had the pleasure of coaching Dave during my time at Wesleyan and then during his role as an assistant," Lyons said in a CNU release. "He is a young coach with good character who will represent the program well. His experience, knowledge and understanding of the game will be very beneficial to the group."
Golf
* Aaron Ingalls of Jackson won the 2018 Tennessee Amateur golf tournament on the second playoff hole Friday at Spring Creek Ranch in Collierville. He and Clemson golfer Kyle Cottam of Knoxville and UT-Martin player Ross Redmont each finished the four rounds at 6-under-par 282, three shots of Tennessee Volunteers player Brayden Garrison of Nolensville. Six-time state amateur champion Tim Jackson of Williston tied for fifth at 287 with Nashville's Philip Lee and Hendersonville's Bryce Lewis and Jacob Sherlin.