Miles outside hitter Karea Copeland is set to pick up right where she finished last season after being chosen as the 2026 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year by the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference on Wednesday. She was selected by votes compiled through the conference office by the league's head women's volleyball coaches and becomes the first Lady Bear to earn the top preseason award.

Copeland, a sophomore from Newnan, Ga., also earned preseason First Team All-SIAC honors. She is coming off a campaign where she won Freshman of the Year and was First Team All-SIAC in 2025. Copeland was named SIAC Offensive Player of the Week four times last season and SIAC Newcomer of the Week three times. Twice, she won those awards in the same week. Her 495 kills and 557 points were the most in the SIAC. Copeland was sixth in the nation in kills and was the top freshman in the country in that statistic while also finishing 25th in the country in points per set (4.49), which was second nationally among freshman.

This season, the SIAC has eliminated divisions and will award spots in the postseason conference tournament to the teams with the top eight records in league play. According to the coaches' vote, the Lady Bears should be one of those squads as they were picked to finish eighth out of 14 teams under third-year head coach Reaucheandra Matthews Scott.

Copeland and the Lady Bears open their 2026 season on Sept. 1 when they host Oakwood. First serve is set for 6 p.m.