Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
RICHARDSON, Texas — Angelo State has been selected as the favorite to win the Lone Star Conference volleyball title. But it’s certainly not a runaway for the Rambelles.
The LSC preseason poll was released Wednesday, with Angelo State scoring 304 points and taking home eight of the 30 first-place votes from a panel of coaches, sports information directors and media representatives for the LSC’s 11 schools.
Eastern New Mexico was picked to finish seventh on the season, and netted 133 points. The Greyhounds open their season Aug. 24 with a pair of neutral-site matches in Canyon, Texas, against Adams State and Emporia State.
The poll’s top four teams are all coming off national tournament appearances. Following the Rambelles on the poll are West Texas A&M with 10 first-place votes and 282 points, just ahead of 2017 regular season champ Tarleton State’s seven first-place votes and 277 points.
Texas A&M-Commerce was fourth with four first-place votes and 263 votes, and was followed by Texas Woman’s (197), Texas A&M-Kingsville (191), ENMU, Midwestern State (100), Western New Mexico (98) and Cameron (80).
For some reason, last-place Texas Permian Basin claimed the final first-place vote. The Falcons went 4-25 last season, including a 1-19 mark in LSC play, and lost their final 20 matches.
The preseason player of the year awards went out to Texas A&M-Kingsville’s Madison Brabham (offensive), Texas A&M-Commerce’s Shelley Chapron (defensive) and Angelo State’s Meghan Parker (setter).
The season begins Aug. 23, with each team playing a 20-game LSC schedule comprised of a home match and road match against every other opponent.
The top finisher in LSC matches will be the regular season champion and host the eight-team postseason tournament Nov. 8-10. The tournament champion receives the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division II tournament.
