IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine was ranked eighth in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I-II Men's Coaches Top-15 Preseason Poll.
The Anteaters will play 10 of the 14 other ranked teams and all three teams recieving votes.
UCI enters the year ranked No. 8 garnering 159 points. Defending champion Ohio State was ranked No. 1 with 359 points and 23 first-place votes. UCLA followed in second with the only other first place vote. BYU was third, Long Beach State fourth and Pepperdine in fifth. Lewis and Hawaii take the two places ahead of the Anteaters.
UCI returns 14 letterwinners, including All-American Tamir Hershko and All-MPSF honoree Michael Saeta.
The Anteaters begin the season at Concordia on Dec. 29 before returning home to entertain Fort Wayne (Jan. 3), UC San Diego (Jan. 5) and Grand Canyon (Jan. 6).
AVCA PRESEASON POLL
Rank School (First-Place Votes) Total Points 2016 Record 2016 Final Rank
1 Ohio State (23) 359 31-3 1
2 UCLA (1) 325 25-7 3
3 BYU 320 27-4 2
4 Long Beach State 291 25-8 4
5 Pepperdine 221 13-11 7
6 Lewis 211 19-13 9
7 Hawai'i 204 16-12 8
8 UC Irvine 159 10-20 NR
9 Stanford 150 19-6 6
10 George Mason 138 18-12 11
11 Loyola-Chicago 125 20-8 10
12 UC Santa Barbara 120 20-10 5
13 Penn State 95 19-10 12
14 CSUN 61 14-15 14
15 Ball State 47 20-9 13
Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Saint Francis 35; California Baptist 10; Southern California 6
Three teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of three combined points
