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Coaches tab LC volleyball as the team to beat
The Lewis-Clark State College women’s volleyball team is the overwhelming choice as the preseason favorite to win the Frontier Conference title this season, according to a vote of the conference coaches released on Monday.
The Warriors, who won both the conference regular season and tournament titles a year ago after being picked to finish sixth in the preseason coaches’ poll, received six of the eight first-place votes in the poll and finished with a total of 48 points. Westminster received the other two votes from the coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own team, and finished second in the poll with 40 points.
“It’s a great honor to be picked by the coaches,” LCSC second-year coach Jennifer Greeny said. “It definitely gives us high expectations this year and we are going to have to work hard because it’s a great conference this year.”
The Warriors posted a 26-8 record a year ago, including a 12-2 mark in conference play. LCSC won the conference tournament and the Region I Tournament to earn a berth to the NAIA national tournament. LCSC was the No. 9 seed at nationals and finished with a 1-2 pool play record.
LCSC returns a solid nucleus from a year ago as it lost two seniors and one other starter, Cintia Alessi. Alessi, who is in her mid-20s, chose to forego her final year of college eligibility and end her volleyball career. The Warriors return four regular starters and added a strong recruiting class for this season.
The Warriors kick off the season on Aug. 22-23 in the Holiday Inn Express Tournament at the LCSC Activity Center. The five-team round-robin tournament will be played on one court throughout Friday and Saturday with action starting at noon on Aug. 22 and 11 a.m. on Aug. 23 Also taking part in the tournament will be Westmont, Northwest, Concordia of Oregon, and Corban.
LCSC will have 11 home matches this season, including four in the tournament along with its seven conference matches.
Rounding out the poll is Montana Tech third with 37 points, followed by Great Falls with 32, Rocky Mountain with 25, Carroll with 21, Montana Western with 11, and Montana State-Northern with 10.
A first-place vote was worth seven points, followed by six points for second, and so-on down the line.
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