Penn State women’s volleyball opens at No. 6 in preseason poll

The Penn State women’s volleyball team earned the No. 6 spot in the American Volleyball Coaches Association preseason poll, announced Wednesday afternoon.

The Nittany Lions return every starter from last season’s 24-10 campaign, which ended with a No. 10 AVCA ranking. Penn State lost to Big Ten rival Nebraska in five sets in the NCAA quarterfinals to end the year.

The Nittany Lions are part of a run of four consecutive Big Ten teams in the top 10, along with No. 4 Minnesota, No. 5 Nebraska and No. 7 Wisconsin, with eight conference programs among the 25 in the rankings. Texas picked up 25 first-place votes and has the No. 1 spot with 1,547 points, barely edging defending champion Stanford, which had 35 first-place votes but was 14 points behind.

Penn State opens its season Aug. 25 against Tennessee-Martin at the West Virginia Invitational.

This story was originally published August 9, 2017 at 7:47 PM with the headline "Penn State women’s volleyball opens at No. 6 in preseason poll."