WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The Mountain East Conference announced its 2025 women's golf preseason poll on Friday, with the West Liberty University Hilltoppers picked fifth by the league's head coaches.

The Hilltoppers earned 29 points in the voting, finishing just three points shy of Davis & Elkins (34) for fourth place. Glenville State, the defending MEC champion, was selected as the preseason favorite with 54 points and five first-place votes. Charleston (51 points, two first-place votes) and Fairmont State (44 points, one first-place vote) rounded out the top three.

The 2025 season marks the beginning of a new era for the Hilltoppers under first-year head coach Freddie Fitzsimmons, a former standout for the West Liberty men's program. Fitzsimmons takes over the women's team after wrapping up his own Hilltopper playing career and now looks to guide the program forward from the coach's chair.

West Liberty will open the season on Thursday, Sept. 4, at the Wheeling Invitational in St. Clairsville, Ohio. The fall schedule is highlighted by the MEC Championships, Oct. 6-8, at the Cobb Course at Glade Springs, where the Hilltoppers will look to make a push up the conference standings.

Behind West Liberty, the rest of the preseason poll featured Wheeling (26 points), Concord (23), and West Virginia Wesleyan (19).