Aug. 24—KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Southern volleyball team has been picked to finish seventh in the MIAA’s preseason coaches poll, the conference announced on Monday.
The Lions went 6-12 overall and 5-3 in conference play in a 2020 spring season that was shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic. They made the MIAA postseason tournament for a second straight year before falling 3-2 to Central Oklahoma in the first round.
MSSU head coach Kalie Mader returns three players from the 2019 squad as well as nine players that saw action last spring.
Nebraska-Kearney, the 2021 MIAA Spring Tournament champion, was picked first by the league’s coaches with 96 points. UNK also claimed the No. 4 spot on the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s Division II Top-25 Preseason Poll. The league has three other nationally-ranked teams this preseason in No. 8 Washburn, No. 17 Northwest Missouri and No. 18 Central Missouri.
Rounding out the MIAA preseason rankings are second-place Washburn (88 points), third-place Northwest Missouri (86), fourth-place Central Missouri (75), fifth-place Central Oklahoma (62), sixth-place Missouri Western (48), seventh-place MSSU (47), eighth-place Pittsburg State (43), ninth-place Fort Hays State (25), 10th-place Emporia State (20) and 11th-place Newman (15).
Southern opens the 2021 regular season at the Drury Panther Invitational, which runs Sept. 2-3 in Springfield. The Lions will play LeMoyne-Owen and Henderson State on the opening day before wrapping up the event with games against Drury and Texas Woman’s on the second day.