The Lone Star Conference officially announced the release of the 2018 Volleyball Preseason Poll with the Hounds receiving 133 total votes, establishing them as the seventh ranked team on the list.
Voted upon by the coaches and media representatives across the league, Angelo State was selected as the preseason favorite a year removed from finishing third in the regular season LSC Conference Standings with a conference record of 13-7.
Angelo State was one of four LSC teams to be selected to the 2017 Division II South Central Regional Tournament last season, and will return three players that received All-Conference recognition a season ago in Second Team All-LSC performer Meghan Parker and Honorable Mention All-LSC performers Anna Graham and Sundara Chinn.
The other three teams to qualify for the regional tournament follow Angelo State in the preseason poll in second-ranked West Texas A&M, defending league champion Tarleton State, who will enter the 2018 campaign ranked third, and fourth-ranked Texas A&M-Commerce.
Texas Woman’s and Texas A&M-Kingsville were next on the poll with just six votes separating the two in the 5th and 6th ranked positions. The Hounds find themselves in seventh place on the preseason poll with 133 votes, which matches their seventh place finish a season ago with a conference record of 9-11.
Midwestern State and Western New Mexico will rank eighth and ninth heading into the season with 100 and 98 votes respectively, while Cameron and UT-Permian Basin round out the poll in 10th and 11th with 80 and 55 votes apiece.
The Hounds will return junior Sarah Tuito-Mariner, who will return as the leader in multiple statistical categories from a season ago including kills (303) and digs (222). Tuoti-Mariner will join forces with senior Kaitlyn Kluna, who will return as the squad’s setter after finishing second on the team with 530 assists a season ago.
An abundance of young talent will also see valuable playing time as the Hounds will begin their quest for their sixth consecutive Lone Star Conference tournament appearance.
Eastern will get their season started on Aug. 24 in Canyon, Texas where they are set to take on Adams State at 8 a.m. and Emporia State at 4:30 p.m. The LSC Conference Tournament is currently set for Nov. 8-11.
