Angelo State is the favorite to capture the Lone Star Conference title, according to the 2018 LSC volleyball preseason poll announced Wednesday.
The league's preseason polls reflect the opinions of LSC head coaches and sports information directors, plus various media representatives from throughout the region.
ASU advanced to the NCAA postseason for the seventh straight year last season with a 21-10 overall and 13-7 LSC record.
The Rambelles earned first-place votes on eight of the 30 ballots for a total of 304 points. West Texas A&M ranked second with 10 top votes to finish with 282 points, followed by Tarleton State, the defending LSC regular season and tournament champions, in third with 277 points and seven first-place nods.
Texas A&M-Commerce was fourth with 263 points and four top votes, while Texas Woman's was fifth (197), and Texas A&M-Kingsville sixth (191). Eastern New Mexico (133), Midwestern State (100), Western New Mexico (98), Cameron (80), and UT Permian Basin (55 and the remaining first-place vote) rounded out the poll.
The 2018 volleyball season begins August 23, with 11 teams set to compete. LSC teams will use a one-conference 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 eight teams in the final conference standings qualify for the postseason tournament set for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 8-9-10, at the No. 1 seed.
2018 LSC Volleyball Preseason Poll
| Rank |
Team |
1st |
Total |
| 1 |
Angelo State |
8 |
304 |
| 2 |
West Texas A&M |
10 |
282 |
| 3 |
Tarleton State |
7 |
277 |
| 4 |
Texas A&M-Commerce |
4 |
263 |
| 5 |
Texas Woman's |
|
197 |
| 6 |
Texas A&M-Kingsville |
|
191 |
| 7 |
Eastern New Mexico |
|
133 |
| 8 |
Midwestern State |
|
100 |
| 9 |
Western New Mexico |
|
98 |
| 10 |
Cameron |
|
80 |
| 11 |
UT Permian Basin |
1 |
55 |