Bengal Volleyball Tied for First in Big Sky Poll

POCATELLO, Idaho – The reigning Big Sky champion Idaho State Bengals tied for the top spot in the preseason poll released Tuesday by the conference.
 
The Bengals received four first-place votes and 108 total points to tie for first with Northern Arizona.
 
ISU returns six of seven starters including First-Team All-Big Sky outside hitter Tressa Lyman, Big Sky Tournament MVP, middle blocker Mackenzie Filer and Big Sky All-Tournament team member, libero Kylee Searle-Sessions.
 
Northern Arizona finished one spot behind Idaho State in the 2013 regular season but defeated ISU 3-2 both times they faced each other.
 
Conference newcomer Idaho received two first place votes and 95 points to edge out North Dakota who also had two first-place votes but 92 points overall.
 
UND tied with Portland State for the regular-season title a year ago.
 
Northern Colorado was picked fifth and Portland State was sixth. The top six teams participate in the Big Sky Tournament which will be hosted by the regular-season champion.
 
Eastern Washington (seventh), Sacramento State (Eighth), Montana (ninth), Montana State (10th), Weber State (11th) and Southern Utah (12th) round out the poll.
 
The Bengals begin their season at the Utah State tournament on Aug. 29-30, in Logan Utah. ISU's first home game is against Brigham Young on Sept. 16 at 7 p.m.

	School	Number of Votes (first place votes in parenthesis)
T1	Idaho State	108 (4)
T1	Northern Arizona	108 (4)
3	Idaho	95 (2)
4	North Dakota	92 (2)
5	Northern Colorado	86
6	Portland State	84
7	Eastern Washington	60
8	Sacramento State	49
9	Montana	35
10	Montana State	33
11	Weber State	26
12	Southern Utah	16