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Hawaii was ranked No. 17 in Monday’s AVCA Coaches Top 25 preseason volleyball poll, one place higher than the Rainbow Wahine’s ranking at the end of last season.
It came as no surprise to coach Dave Shoji, who lost eight players — including four starters — from last season’s 25-5 squad.
"I honestly don’t know if we’re a top-10 team or if we even belong in the Top 25," Shoji said. "Time will tell. We have a tough first weekend and we’ll know more about our team after that."
The Rainbow Wahine open the season Aug. 29 with Ohio in the Chevron Invitational.
Hawaii, with 481 points, was the only Big West team in the Top 25, but three other conference teams received votes. UC Santa Barbara was 34th with 26 points, Cal State Northridge 37th with 19 points and Long Beach State 38th with 11 points
Defending national champion Penn State was selected No. 1, garnering 32 of 60 first-place votes. Texas, the 2012 champion, was No. 2 with 11 first-place votes, followed by Stanford (7), Washington and USC (2). Rounding out the top 10 were national runner-up Wisconsin (8), Nebraska, Purdue, BYU and Florida.
» See the full Top 25 poll in Scoreboard.
