Aug. 17, 2012
Storm Lake, Iowa
The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) released its 2012 Preseason Volleyball Coaches Poll on Friday.
Wartburg College, which finished as last year's regular season league runner-up, earned all seven possible first place votes in the poll (coaches can't vote for their own team), and is the favorite to win the title in 2012. Coe College, last year's league champion, earned the final vote and was seven points back of the Knights for the second pick.
BVU, under new head coach Lori Slight, returns three starters and six letterwinners from last year's squad which went 9-23 overall.
"Being brand new this year we are going to have to learn on the fly so to speak," says Slight. "We will be a really young team and will have to see how we work together. Looking at the past stats, we are going to have great competition every night so we will have to come together quickly if we are going to
compete in the conference.”
The Beavers open their season on Friday, August 31, at the Northwestern (MN) Invite with matches against Grinnell College (5:00pm) and UW-River Falls (7:00pm). League play will begin with a home match on September 12 against Simpson College (7:30pm).
2012 IIAC Volleyball Preseason Coaches Poll
|
Rank |
School (1st place votes) |
Points |
2011 Record |
|
1 |
Wartburg (7) |
56 |
24-11, 7-1 IIAC |
|
2 |
Coe (1) |
49 |
31-4, 8-0 IIAC |
|
3 |
Central |
42 |
24-11, 4-4 IIAC |
|
4 |
Loras |
37 |
10-23, 4-4 IIAC |
|
5 |
Luther |
30 |
17-14, 2-6 IIAC |
|
6 |
Simpson |
29 |
14-18, 3-5 IIAC |
|
7 |
Dubuque |
22 |
16-18, 3-5 IIAC |
|
8 |
Buena Vista |
15 |
9-23, 0-8 IIAC |