Huskers picked 1st in Big12 Preseason Poll

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Huskers Snag Top Spot in Preseason Big 12 Poll

Big 12 Conference Office Release

 

 

Irving, Texas - The Nebraska volleyball team was selected as the favorite to win the Big 12 Conference title in the coaches' preseason volleyball poll released Thursday morning by the conference office. The Huskers received nine of the 11 first-place votes, while the Texas Longhorns received the other two first-place votes to finish in the No. 2 spot.

 

The Big 12 North was well represented with three teams in the top five, as the No. 1 Huskers were joined by No. 3 Iowa State and No. 5 Missouri. Oklahoma was the other program picked in the top five, as the Sooners were tabbed fourth in the preseason poll.

 

Along with the team honor, the Huskers had a conference-high four players earn preseason All-Big 12 honors, including seniors Sydney Anderson and Kayla Banwarth, junior Brooke Delano and sophomore Hannah Werth. Iowa State, who had three players selected, was the only other team to have more than two players named to the preseason squad.

 

A two-time All-American, Anderson returns for her senior year after guiding the Huskers to 57 wins in her first two years as the team's starting setter. Anderson, who is the eighth setter in program history to be a multi-time All-American, enters 2010 ranked ninth on NU's all-time charts with 2,683 career assists. Last season, Anderson ranked second in the Big 12 and 13th nationally with 11.53 assists per set.

 

A preseason All-Big 12 pick for the first time in her career, Banwarth has been a cornerstone for the Huskers over the past three seasons as she has started 75 of the Huskers' last 76 matches. An honorable-mention All-Big 12 selection in 2009, Banwarth nearly broke the school record for digs in a season, as she totaled 570 to come up 11 shy of breaking Dani Busboom's 2006 record of 580 digs. Banwarth had a record-setting night against Baylor in 2009 with 32 digs in a three-set win over the Bears to break the previous three-set record of 28 that had stood since 1985.

 

Delano returns for her junior season after earning second-team All-America honors as a middle blocker. Delano hit .400 or better in 14 of her 31 matches, including one three-match stretch where she average 3.33 kills per set on .636 hitting. She finished fifth in the Big 12 in both blocks per set (1.09) and hitting percentage (.339) in 2009 to garner first-team All-Big 12 honors as well.

 

Werth is expected to be one of the Huskers' top hitters in 2010 after one of the best freshman seasons in school history, which saw her earn Big 12 Freshman of the Year, honorable-mention All-America and honorable-mention All-Big 12 honors. Werth became the first freshman since 2004 to lead the Huskers in kills at 3.18 per set, while she also finished third on NU's all-time freshman kills chart (343) and second on the freshman digs list (332). Werth totaled 13 double-doubles in 2009, as she led the team in kills on 13 occasions.

 

Fans will have their first opportunity to see the Huskers at the Red/White Scrimmage on Saturday, Aug. 21, at 7 p.m. Tickets are still available online at Huskers.com or by calling 1-800-8-BIGRED.

 

Nebraska first regular-season action will be matches against Kentucky and Florida at the Runza/AVCA Showcase in Omaha at the Qwest Center on Aug. 28-29. Tickets for the Runza/AVCA Showcase are on sale at Ticketmaster.com and at Ticketmaster outlets across the state.

 

2010 BIG 12 PRESEASON VOLLEYBALL POLL & AWARDS

 

PRESEASON POLL

Rank Team (First-Place Votes) Points

1 Nebraska (9) 98

2 Texas (2) 91

3 Iowa State 84

4 Oklahoma 65

5 Missouri 63

6 Baylor 52

7 Texas A&M 48

8 Kansas 38

9 Kansas State 37

10 Texas Tech 15

11 Colorado 14

 

Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team.

 

 

 

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