WACO, Texas – Baylor volleyball starts the 2016 season picked seventh in the Big 12 Conference preseason coaches’ poll, released Thursday by the conference office.
For the eighth-consecutive season, the Bears are picked to finish in the top seven, one of only four Big 12 schools to maintain that distinction each year since 2009, joining Oklahoma, Iowa State, and Texas.
The poll is determined by league head coaches, who are not permitted to vote for their own team.
Texas has been selected as the unanimous preseason No. 1 for five consecutive years, garnering all eight of the possible first-place votes. Following the defending national-runner up is a Kansas team that finished 2015 in the national semifinals, giving the Big 12 two of the final four teams in the tournament.
Iowa State, TCU, Oklahoma, and K-State edged out the Bears, taking the No. 3-6 rankings, leaving BU in the seventh spot with 21 points.
Texas Tech and West Virginia round out the nine-team volleyball conference, hoping to improve on a No. 2 national RPI ranking as a league in 2015.
Despite the seventh-place preseason ranking, the BU squad has its eyes on a much higher finish, entering the second year with head coach Ryan McGuyre at the helm of the program.
The Bears finished with a 17-13 overall record and a 5-11 mark in conference play in 2015, narrowly missing out on postseason play.
Baylor kicks off the 2016 season with the annual Green and Gold Scrimmage on Tues., Aug. 23 at 6 p.m., with the Baylor Invitational serving as the regular season opener that weekend, running Aug. 26-27 and featuring UTRGV, Prairie View A&M, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
2016 BIG 12 VOLLEYBALL PRESEASON POLL
| 1. | Texas (8) | 64 |
| 2. | Kansas (1) | 57 |
| 3. | Iowa State | 47 |
| 4. | TCU | 41 |
| 5. | Oklahoma | 38 |
| 6. | Kansas State | 32 |
| 7. | Baylor | 21 |
| 8. | Texas Tech | 16 |
| 9. | West Virginia | 8 |
First-place votes in parentheses. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team.
