Aug. 13, 2001
WACO, Texas - Baylor's women's volleyball team received 14 points in the USA Today/AVCA Preseason Coaches Poll, released Monday. That point total, based upon a standard voting format of 25 points for a first-place vote, 24 points for a second-place vote, etc., ranks the Bears 40th to begin the 2001 season.
Defending national champion Nebraska garnered 63 of 65 first-place votes to earn preseason No. 1 status. Southern California received the other two first-place votes and is ranked second. Penn State, Wisconsin, Hawai'i, Arizona, UCLA, Long Beach State, Florida and Stanford round out the top 10.
Currently conducting a two-week session of preseason drills in Japan, Baylor is armed with five seniors and four returning starters. Included in that group of seniors is setter Dana Chuha, who has led the NCAA in assists each of the past two seasons. Also returning is 2000 Big 12 and AVCA Central Region Freshman of the Year Stevie Nicholas, who last week was selected to the Big 12 preseason all-conference team.
Including Baylor and Nebraska, seven Big 12 teams received votes in the preseason poll. Texas A&M will open the season ranked 18th with Kansas State one spot back. Missouri (109 points) and Colorado (108) just missed cracking the Top 25, ranking 27th and 28th, respectively. Texas Tech was 35th with 20 points. Another 2001 opponent for Baylor, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, received eight points.
Baylor, which earned its first-ever AVCA ranking during the 1999 campaign, opened last season at No. 21 and reached as high as 19th. The Bears finished 16-15 in 2000 with a seventh-place finish in the always-tough Big 12.
The 2001 Baylor season will get underway in a little more than two weeks at the NOKIA Sugar Bowl Tournament hosted by Tulane in New Orleans, La. The Bears will face Nevada-Las Vegas at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 31. Baylor will then tangle with Louisiana State at 12:30 p.m. Sept. 1, followed by an 8 p.m. showdown with the host Green Wave.
Baylor will also hold its annual Green and Gold Scrimmage at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26 in the Ferrell Center. Head coach Brian Hosfeld will answer questions during the match and discuss the various rule and scoring changes for the 2001 season.
USA Today/AVCA Division ICoaches Top 25Preseason Poll, Aug. 13, 2001
Rank School (No. 1 votes) Points 2000 Rec. 2000 Rank 1 Nebraska (63) 1623 34-0 1 2 Southern California (2) 1472 29-3 4 3 Penn State 1374 30-6 6 4 Wisconsin 1320 33-5 2 5 Hawai'i 1261 31-2 3 6 Arizona 1178 28-5 5 7 UCLA 1098 25-8 7 8 Long Beach State 1091 24-8 14 9 Florida 1084 29-5 1210 Stanford 1017 19-12 1911 Brigham Young 989 26-7 1312 Pacific 950 28-4 813 UC Santa Barbara 882 26-8 914 Colorado State 866 32-5 1015 Minnesota 724 30-4 1116 Ohio State 638 26-7 1517 Pepperdine 606 24-7 1818 Texas A&M 481 20-9 2319 Kansas State 354 22-9 1620 Notre Dame 278 26-7 2121 Utah 254 23-8 2022 Santa Clara 232 27-5 1723 South Carolina 172 22-7 NR24 Loyola Marymount 155 20-9 2525 Georgia Tech 123 25-8 NR
Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Louisville (112), Missouri (109), Colorado (108), Washington State (102), Michigan State (88), North Carolina (62), Northern Iowa (58), Utah State (33), Michigan (26), Texas Tech (20), San Diego (18), South Florida (17), Tennessee (16), Arizona State (15), Baylor (14), Duke (13), Arkansas (12), Florida State (11), Western Michigan (9), Fairfield (8), Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (8), Northern Arizona (5), Wisconsin-Milwaukee (4), San Jose State (3).
