Cougars ranked No. 11 in preseason poll

PROVO, Utah – The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) ranked BYU women’s volleyball No. 11 in the nation in the preseason coaches' poll, which was released Wednesday.

BYU finished the season ranked No. 3 last year after reaching the national championship match of the 2014 NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. The Cougars went 30-5 overall and picked up the West Coast Conference title after going 16-2 in league play.

With 919 points, BYU is the only WCC team in the preseason top 25. The only other conference team to receive votes, San Diego, earned 10 points.

North Carolina, the Cougars’ second opponent, is ranked No. 7 with 1158 total points. BYU also plays Southern California and Utah, who are ranked No. 22 and No. 23, respectively. The only other team BYU faces that received votes is Oregon State, who collected 89 points.

Penn State was named No. 1 heading into the season, following an NCAA tournament championship last year, with 54 first-place votes. The Nittany Lions were followed by Stanford at No. 2 and Texas at No. 3.