AUGUSTA, GA. – The Francis Marion University women’s volleyball team has been tabbed to finish third in the race for the 2007 Peach Belt Conference crown, according to the annual poll of the league’s head coaches. Three FMU players were also named to the 2007 preseason All-PBC squad.

USC Aiken was picked as the preseason favorite, followed by Armstrong Atlantic State University, Francis Marion, UNC Pembroke, Lander University, and Augusta State University. FMU shared the 2006 regular-season championship with USCA and AASU.

Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams.

Francis Marion was the only team to place three players on the eight-member preseason All-Conference team. Senior outside hitter Jackie Phiel, senior middlehitter Michelle Settergren, and junior setter Jenna Kaiser were selected to the squad.

Phiel led the Patriots in aces in 2006 and was second on the team in digs and third in kills.   The Amherst, Ohio native ranked third in the PBC in aces per game and 12th in digs per game and enters the 2007 season with over 1,200 career digs and 750 career kills. Settergren was second on the Patriots with 89 blocks a year ago, while hitting .209 with 1.84 kills per game. A native of Walnut, Calif., she was the 2004 PBC Freshman of the Year. Kaiser was the 2005 PBC Freshman of the Year and named to the All-Conference Team in 2006. A native of Broomfield, Colo., Kaiser led the PBC in assists with 10.86 per game last season and has been named the PBC Specialist of the Week three times during her career.

            Altogether, second-year FMU head coach Paul MacDonald welcomes back seven letterwinners, including four starters, from last year’s 26-8 squad.

The Patriots open their season Aug. 24 at the Eckerd College Tournament in St. Petersburg, Fla. The following weekend (Aug. 31-Sept. 1), the Patriots will host the FMU Invitational Tournament.