Flying Queens ranked No. 10, Wayland men No. 18 in NAIA preseason poll
PLAINVIEW — Wayland Baptist is ranked No. 10 in the preseason NAIA women's basketball Top 25 poll released Wednesday.
The Flying Queens finished last season with a 33-4 record, Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships and a No. 8 national ranking. Rocky Mountain College eliminated Wayland in the NAIA Tournament round of 16. The Queens' 33 wins were the most for the program in more than 40 years.
Gone from the team are point guard Angel Hayden and two-time SAC player of the year Kaylee Edgemon, who received some level of NAIA all-America recognition in four seasons. Top returnees include all-American Jenna Cooper-Jackson, all-SAC third-team honoree Kaitlyn Edgemon and starter Ashlyn Shelley.
Thomas More, the Kentucky school that won the NAIA Tournament last season, is again ranked No. 1. Rounding out the top five are Westmont, Morningside, Campbellsville and Carroll.
Wayland opens the season at 7 p.m. Thursday at Hutcherson Center, hosting University of the Southwest.
WBU men's basketball
PLAINVIEW — Wayland Baptist, coming off a 19-13 season, is ranked No. 18 in the NAIA Top 25 poll that came out Wednesday.
The Pioneers finished fourth in the Sooner Athletic Conference last season and made the conference tournament championship game, but didn't receive an invitation to the NAIA Tournament.
Wayland, however, is the preseason favorite in the SAC coaches' poll. The Pioneers return senior guard Parrish Hewitt, who averaged 17.3 points through six games before he redshirted. Also back are second-team all-SAC guard R.J. Mason, honorable mention all-SAC forward Thad Udho and guard Dylan McDougal, who made the SAC all-freshman team.
The Pioneers' newcomers include several transfers: 6-foot-5 senior forward Tedrick Wolfe, a former NAIA all-America honorable mention at Central Baptist; 6-3 junior B.J. Simmons from UT-Rio Grande Valley, 6-5 sophomore Reece Spencer (Houston Baptist), 6-9 junior D'Michael Bellfield (Oklahoma Baptist), 6-8 junior Manny Crump (Sam Houston State) and 6-9 junior Bol Tang (New Orleans).
Wayland opens the season hosting University of the Southwest at 7 p.m. Nov. 4.
LCU men's soccer
DALLAS — Gavyn Rosales broke a scoreless tie in the 42nd minute and Alexander Knepper made seven saves as Dallas Baptist shut out Lubbock Christian University 3-0 Wednesday night in Lone Star Conference soccer.
Ethan Unger assisted on two goals, one by Jonathan Leach in the 80th minute and one by Nathan Hayes in the 88th. Dallas Baptist (6-6-4, 5-3) held on to second place in the conference standings behind St. Mary's (10-0-6, 6-0-2), which clinched the regular-season championship earlier Wednesday with a 1-1 tie against UT Tyler.
The match was the road finale for LCU (7-7-3, 4-3-1), which finishes the regular season with a home match at 7 p.m. Saturday against the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (4-5-5, 2-3-3). The Chaps will have a senior-night recognition before the match.
DBU outshot LCU 20-12 and put nine shots on goal to the Chaparrals' seven. Federico Said had two of the Chaps' shots on goal. The others came from Pablo Galietero Diez, Tariq Bakkali, Hugo Staunton, Felipe Mira and Enzo Jaques.
DBU's 20 shots were the most against LCU in a match since last season.
Knepper's seven saves also were the most by an opposing goalkeeper against LCU this season. Chaps goalkeeper Tom Miles made five saves.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Wayland Baptist women No. 10, men No. 18 in NAIA preseason hoops poll
