BATON ROUGE — The LSU volleyball team was picked to tie with Arkansas for the Southeastern Conference Western Division title in a preseason poll by the league’s coaches, it was announced by the conference office on Monday.
The Tigers and Lady’Backs each received 50 points from the panel made up of the 11 SEC coaches, but LSU edged out Arkansas, the four-time defending Western Division champion, with six first place votes compared to five for the Lady’Backs. Alabama came in third with 34 points, followed by Mississippi State with 26 points. Auburn and Ole Miss rounded out the West with 24 and 11 points respectively.
In the East, Florida just edged out 2004 co-champion Tennessee with 43 points, compared to 40 points for the Lady Vols. Georgia came in third with 26 points, followed closely by South Carolina with 21, while Kentucky completed the field with 10 points.
The Gators, who enter the season ranked No. 8 in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches poll, were also selected as the overall league champion ahead of Tennessee, which is ranked No. 9 in the preseason poll, by way of a 7-4 vote.
Voting in the West was done on a 6-5-4-3-2-1 basis while the East was calculated 5-4-3-2-1. No coach is allowed to vote for his/her own team and each coach also voted for one team as the overall conference champion. The East has only five teams as Vanderbilt does not have a squad.
LSU opens the 2005 season with the two-day Georgia Southern Invitational in Statesboro, Ga., beginning on Aug. 26. The Tigers begin play on Friday at 1 p.m. (CT) against host Georgia Southern before facing Jacksonville at 5 p.m. (CT). The tournament concludes with LSU facing Campbell at 1 p.m. (CT) on Saturday.
Western Division
Team (First-Place Votes)
1.
LSU (6)
50
1.
Arkansas (5)
50
3.
Alabama
34
4.
Mississippi State
26
5.
Auburn
24
6.
Ole Miss
11
Eastern Division
1.
Florida (7)
43
2.
Tennessee (4)
40
3.
Georgia
26
4.
South Carolina
21
5.
Kentucky
10
Overall Champion: Florida (7), Tennessee (4).