CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Big South Conference announced the 2026 Preseason Women's Volleyball All-Conference Awards and Preseason Poll on Wednesday afternoon. The High Point University volleyball team was unanimously voted the preseason favorite by the Big South head coaches after winning the 2025 Big South Tournament, making it the Panthers 10th consecutive season being voted No. 1.

Along with being voted the preseason favorite, four HPU student-athletes were named to the All-Conference selection including, Élodie Lalonde, Maya Bukovcan, Remy Catojo and Addison Freeland. Lalonde was named the Big South Preseason Player of the Year and Remy Catojo was voted the Big South Preseason Co-Setter of the Year along with USC Upstate's Kamyla Vega David.
 
During the 2025 season, High Point three-peated as the Big South Regular Season and Tournament Champions to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and played the University of Kansas in the First Round. The Panthers finished with an 18-10 overall record and a 12-12 record in league play after finishing the regular season on a six game win streak.

Élodie Lalonde | Big South Preseason Player of the Year & All-Conference
A season ago, Lalonde helped HPU win its third consecutive Big South Tournament as the team's leading hitter on the attack. She averaged 3.68 kills per set with a .235 hitting percentage. She had 19 matches with 10+ kills on the outside, including four matches with 20+ kills. She exploded with a career-high 26 kills at USC Upstate (Oct. 18) while adding 10 digs and 2 assists. Her 26 kills rank Top 10 in program history in single-match kills. As an all-around player, Lalonde picked up 149 digs, averaging 1.62 per set leading to six double-doubles in kills and digs. Adding to her stats she registered 45 blocks, 21 assists and 13 service aces. Following the season, she was named to the Big South First Team All-Conference and spent the summer playing for the Canada Women's U21 National Team.

Remy Catojo | Big South Preseason Co-Setter of the Year & All-Conference
In Catojo's freshman season she was named to the Big South Second Team All-Conference, All-Freshman Team and All-Tournament Team. As HPU's main setter, she registered 710 assists to average 7.89 per set. Two times during the season she dished out a season-high 52 assists against Yale (Sept. 6) and Winthrop (Oct. 25). Playing all the way around, she collected 161 digs and posted nine games with a double-double in assists and digs. As a 6'5" setter she registered 78 kills and 42 blocks during the season, putting down a season-high seven kills at Presbyterian (Nov. 7) and five blocks versus UNC Asheville (Nov. 1). Catojo helped guide the Panthers to their third straight Big South Tournament victory and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Maya Bukovcan | Big South Preseason All-Conference
Bukovcan had an outstanding freshman season as a middle blocker. She led the team and finished second in the Big South in blocks averaging 1.11 blocks per set, totaling 115 during the season. In her third game of the season, she registered nine blocks against BYU (Aug. 30). On the middle attack she registered 227 kills averaging 2.18 kills per set with a Big South and team leading .389 hitting percentage. Her best hitting percentage game was at ETSU (Sept. 13) knocking down 12 kills with a .611 hitting percentage while adding five blocks. She had 10 games with double digit kills and registered a season-high 18 versus Yale (Sept. 6). She guided HPU to its third straight Big South Tournament win and was named the Big South Freshman of the Year. She was also named to the All-Freshman team and the First Team All-Conference. This past summer she played for the Canada Women's U21 National Team and was voted the Best Server and Second-Best Blocker of the Championship.

Addison Freeland | Big South Preseason All-Conference
Freeland, the 2025 Big South Tournament MVP had one of her best seasons with the Panthers as a middle blocker. She finished second on the team in kills and blocks registering 243 kills and 81 blocks. She had 14 games with 10+ kills including a career-high 19 kills versus USC Upstate (Oct. 31). She posted her best hitting percentage of the season against Charleston Southern (Oct. 10) hitting .667 after recording 11-15 on the attack. Freeland helped HPU to its third straight Big South Championship title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Below is the full list of the preseason awards.

Big South Preseason All-Conference Awards
Élodie Lalonde, OH, High Point (Preseason Player of the Year)
Maya Bukovcan, MB, High Point
Paige Bennett, OH, Winthrop
Summer Kohler, OH, USC Upstate
Kamyla Vega David, S, USC Upstate (Preseason Co-Setter of the Year)
Remy Catojo, S, High Point (Preseason Co-Setter of the Year)
Addison Freeland, MB, High Point
Sophia Overholt, DS/LIB, USC Upstate (Preseason Libero of the Year)
 
Big South Preseason Poll 
 

Rank	Team (1st place votes)	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Points
1.	High Point (5)	5	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	61
2.	Winthrop (3)	3	4	1	-	-	-	-	-	58
3.	USC Upstate	-	1	4	1	2	-	-	-	44
4.	Charleston Southern	-	-	2	2	2	-	1	1	33
5.	UNC Asheville	-	-	-	3	1	3	1	-	30
6.	Radford	-	-	1	2	-	3	2	-	29
7.	Gardner-Webb	-	-	-	-	1	2	4	1	19
8.	Presbyterian College	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	6	14

Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 8 points, followed by 7 points for second-place, and so on.  
 
The Panthers travel to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill on Saturday, August 22nd for a preseason exhibition at 2:00pm. HPU begins its regular season at the Penn State Invitational on the weekend of August 28 through August 30.