Central Islip, N.Y. - The University of Bridgeport Purple Knights have been picked by the conference’s coaches as the front runner to take home the 2012 ECC Volleyball title. The Purple Knights captured four first place votes and 75 points to top the ranking. Sophomore outside hitter Biljana Savic (Novi Sad, Serbia) from Bridgeport has been named the Preseason Player of the Year.

Bridgeport continued its recent run of excellence in 2011, making the championship game of the ECC Tournament as well as the NCAA Tournament, for the fourth consecutive year. The Purple Knights also advanced to the NCAA East Region Final for the third consecutive year, where they defeated the University of New Haven to advance to the Division II Elite Eight for the first time in program history.

New York Institute of Technology received two first place votes to finish one point ahead of Dowling College for second place in the poll. Dowling, coming off a season in which they won their seventh ECC Championship in eight years, also received two first place votes to finish third. LIU Post picked up the final first place vote to finish fourth with 54 points.

Savic was the ECC Rookie of the Year and the AVCA East Region Rookie of the Year in 2011 after smashing 448 kills to rank fifth in the conference and lead the Purple Knights. In addition to spots on the All-Conference and All-Region teams, her impressive collegiate debut also saw her earn recognition on the AVCA All-America Honorable Mention list.

2012 ECC Volleyball Preseason Poll

( ) - first place votes