The Lewis-Clark State College women’s volleyball team is the overwhelming 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 College of Utah 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.
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 who 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 August 22-23 in the Holiday Inn Express Tournament at the LCSC Activity Center.
LCSC will have 11 home matches this season, including four in the tournament along with its seven conference matches.