SAN ANTONIO, Texas – West Texas A&M is the favorite to claim the Lone Star Conference championship, according to the 2010 LSC preseason volleyball poll announced Tuesday.
The league's preseason polls reflect the opinions of LSC head coaches and sports information directors, plus various media representatives from throughout the region.
The 2010 volleyball season begins in late August, with 15 teams set to compete in the league with the addition of Incarnate Word. LSC teams will use a one-conference, single round-robin scheduling model in 2010, in which each team will play one match against each of the other teams.
The LSC regular season title will be determined by conference matches with the champion and runner-up receiving trophies, while the postseason tournament will use an eight-team bracket, taking the top eight teams in the final conference standings. The tournament will be played Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 11-13, using the NCAA regional format and be hosted by the No. 1 seed.
The Lady Buffs captured their fourth straight and 15th overall league title, along with the South Central Regional title and finished as national runners-up in 2009. WTAMU was 39-4 overall and undefeated in conference play for the fourth straight year with a 13-0 mark.
WTAM earned first-place votes on 27 of the 40 ballots for a total of 584 points. Abilene Christian collected the remaining 13 first place nods to finish second with 567 points.
Angelo State was third with 487 total points, Central Oklahoma fourth (424), Texas A&M-Commerce fifth (343), Incarnate Word sixth (342), Midwestern State seventh (336) and Texas Woman's (321) eighth. Southeastern Oklahoma (320), Texas A&M-Kingsville (295), Cameron (242), Tarleton State (221), East Central (145), Southwestern Oklahoma (99) and Eastern New Mexico (74) rounded out the poll.
