Utah State women’s volleyball was picked sixth in the annual preseason Mountain West coaches’ poll, as announced by the conference office on Wednesday.
“Polls are exciting. It means that we are getting close to the season,” head coach Grayson DuBose said. “Our goals are always to take care of the next ball and see what happens. The conference is really good and there are a lot of good returning players. It is exciting stuff.”
Colorado State was picked first for the fourth-consecutive year, earning 98 points and eight first-place votes. Boise State, the 2016 Mountain West champion, followed with 93 points and the remaining three first-place votes.
San Diego State (79), Wyoming (67) and Nevada (57) preceded Utah State on the list at three, four and five. The Aggies earned 51 points and were followed by UNLV (42), San José State (38), New Mexico (37), Fresno State (29) and Air Force (14).
Boise State senior Sierra Nobley was tabbed the Preseason Player of the Year, coming off a season where she led the league in kills (522), kills per set (4.58), points (589) and points per set (5.17). Nobley was one of two players from Boise State on the preseason team, joining senior libero Maddi Osburn. Colorado State had four players on the list in senior outside San Cizmic, redshirt sophomore middle Kirstie Hillyer, sophomore setter Katie Oleksak and senior middle Alexandra Poletto. San Diego State junior Deja Harris was the final member of the preseason team.
Utah State opens the 2017 season in Fayetteville, Arkansas, taking part in the Arkansas Classic and facing Louisiana Monroe, CSU Bakersfield and Arkansas. The Aggies open at home on Sept. 1-2, hosting Pacific, Montana State and UC Santa Barbara. USU then opens Mountain West play on Sept. 21, hosting San Diego State.
Utah State returns four starters from 2016 in senior outside Lauren Anderson, senior middle Carly Lenzen, junior middle Lauren O’Brien and junior defensive specialist Tasia Taylor. Anderson was the leading attacker for the Aggies last season, totaling 377 kills on a team-high 997 attempts. Senior opposite Kayla DeCoursey finished third on the team in 2016, recording 255 kills, and she was the most efficient hitter on the outside with a .266 hitting percentage (255-83-646).
Kyle Cottam is the Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations at Utah State University.