Lions Picked to Finish Eighth in the Lone Star Conference

Coming off its first Lone Star Conference Tournament appearance since 2002, the Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team was picked to finish eighth in the Lone Star Conference preseason poll announced on Thursday.

The Lions return seven letterwinners including 2008 all-conference selections Morgan Ballard, Lauren Flynn (pictured) and Perla Faudoa and among the newcomers are four all-state selections for second year head coach Mark Pryor.

Defending champion West Texas A&M collected 31 of 38 first place votes and is picked to win the Lone Star Conference again in 2009. Abilene Christian and Tarleton State collected the remaining first place nods to finish second and third, respectively.  ACU topped Tarleton with four first-place nods to three top votes for the TexAnns. Midwestern State was picked fourth, while Texas Woman’s was fifth, Angelo State sixth and Central Oklahoma seventh ahead of A&M-Commerce.

Behind the Lions was Southeastern Oklahoma, Cameron, Texas A&M-Kingsville, East Central, Southwestern Oklahoma and Eastern New Mexico to round out the poll.

A&M-Commerce will begin the 2009 season on Friday, August 29th at the  Angelo Retina ASU Invitational where they will face Southern Arkansas at 9 a.m., St. Edward's at noon and New Mexico Highlands at 3 p.m.