ATLANTA - Piedmont men's tennis has been picked to finish third, as the Collegiate Conference of the South Preseason Coaches Poll was released Tuesday afternoon.

The Lions, who have made the CCS Tournament Final in each of the past three seasons, earned 28 total points and tallied one first-place vote.

Asbury, which defeated the Lions in the 2025 final, are picked to repeat, with 36 points and six of the seven first-place votes.

Covenant, which captured the first two CCS Tournament Titles, finds itself in the second spot, with 29 points, one ahead of the Lions.

After Piedmont, Maryville sits in fourth with 19 points, followed closely by Belhaven fifth with 15.

Huntingdon (14) and LaGrange (6) round out the listing in sixth and seventh.

This season, the Lions must replace 2025 CCS Man of the Year Yannick Wassmer Navarro, five-year starter Bryce VanOrder and Connor Phelps. 

The Lions do return multi-year starters Mark Backeberg, Charles Parnell and Rohan Kavali to lead the team into 2026.

The 2026 CCS Men's Tennis Championship Tournament starts with the Top 6 teams on Thursday, April 23 and the championship game is scheduled for Saturday, April 25 hosted by the Adams Tennis Complex in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
 

2026 CCS MEN'S TENNIS PRESEASON POLL

Ranking	School	Points
1	Asbury University	36 points (6)
2	Covenant College	29 points
3	Piedmont University	28 points (1)
4	Maryville College	19 points
5	Belhaven University	15 points
6	Huntingdon College	14 points
7	LaGrange College	6 points