USC Men's Volleyball Picked First In 2011 MPSF Coaches Poll
December 01, 2010 | Men's Volleyball
Dec. 1, 2010
The USC men's volleyball team tied with UC Irvine as the favorite to win the 2011 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, according to the MPSF men's volleyball pre-season coaches poll.
The Trojans and Anteaters played in the 2009 NCAA championship match, with UCI winning in 5 sets.
Stanford, last year's NCAA champion, is third in the 2011 MPSF pre-season poll. Pepperdine, BYU and Hawaii round out the top half of the poll. UCLA is picked seventh, followed by UC Santa Barbara, Long Beach State, Cal State Northridge, Pacific and UC San Diego.
USC and UCI each received 3 first-place votes and 100 total points in the poll. Four other teams received at least 1 first place vote: Stanford, Pepperdine, BYU and UCLA.
Last year, the Trojans placed sixth in the MPSF regular season and advanced to the MPSF tournament quarterfinals. Among the key returnees are All-American hitters Murphy Troy and Tony Ciarelli, setter Riley McKibbin and middle blocker Austin Zahn.
USC opens its 2011 season against Alberta on Jan. 5 at home. The Trojans then begin MPSF play at home against Cal State Northridge on Jan. 12.
2011 MPSF Men's Volleyball Pre-Season Coaches Poll
(with points and first place votes)
1T - USC (100, 3)
1T - UC Irvine (100, 3)
3 - Stanford (96, 2)
4 - Pepperdine (90, 1)
5 - BYU (85, 2)
6 - Hawaii (83)
7 - UCLA (68, 1)
8 - UC Santa Barbara (58)
9 - Long Beach State (43)
10 - Cal State Northridge (35)
11 - Pacific (18)
12 - UC San Diego (16)
