West Texas A&M is a slight favorite to capture the Lone Star Conference title, according to the 2013 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.

      WT (33-5 overall, 17-3 LSC) claimed its seventh straight and 14th overall LSC Tournament title and 12th Regional Championship to advance to the Elite Eight last season.

      The Lady Buffs earned first-place votes on 12 of the 25 ballots for a total of 211 points.  Angelo State, the reigning LSC Champion, was a close second with 10 first-place nods to finish with 208. 

      Texas Woman’s was third with 161 points and the remaining three first-place votes, while Tarleton State was fourth (155), Texas A&M-Commerce fifth (113), and Texas A&M-Kingsville sixth (101).

      Midwestern State (81), Cameron (62), and Eastern New Mexico (33) rounded out the poll.

      The 2013 volleyball season begins in early September, with nine teams set to compete.  LSC teams will use a double round-robin scheduling model, in which each team plays a home and away match against each of the other teams.

      The LSC champion will be the regular season winner determined by league matches, while the postseason tournament winner is designated as LSC Tournament Champion and earns the conference’s automatic qualification.  The top six teams in the final conference standings qualify for the postseason tournament set for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 21-22-23, at the No. 1 seed.
 

Rank	Team	1st	TOTAL
1	West Texas A&M	12	211
2	Angelo State	10	208
3	Texas Woman's	3	161
4	Tarleton State		155
5	Texas A&M-Commerce		113
6	Texas A&M-Kingsville		101
7	Midwestern State		81
8	Cameron		62
9	Eastern New Mexico		33