SAN MATEO, Calif.---The West Coast Conference released their 2020-21 Volleyball Preseason Poll on Wednesday morning, and reigning league champion No. 15 BYU was voted to successfully defend their title in the annual preseason poll of the conference's 10 coaches. Portland head coach Megan Burton enters her second season leading the Pilots volleyball program.
 
The Pilots welcome back seven members of last season's squad to the Bluff, while also adding four true freshmen and two graduate students to the team for the start of 2021 fall action.
 
The 15th-ranked Cougars (15-1 WCC) captured their seventh WCC championship in program history and sixth in the last seven years during the 2020-21 spring season. BYU earned the maximum 81 points in the coaches balloting with nine first place votes.
 
No. 20 San Diego (12-4 WCC) came in second with 70 points and one first-place vote while No. 22 Pepperdine was third with 68 points. The Toreros spent the entirety of the previous conference season in the top-25 poll—reaching as high as No. 17 in Week Six—while the Waves finished second overall in WCC standings at the end of last spring.
 
Loyola Marymount took fourth in the poll with 57 points and Santa Clara rounds out the top five with 49 points. Saint Mary's (38), Gonzaga (29), Pacifc (27), San Francisco (19) and Portland (12) were sixth through 10th.
 
10 of 16 members of the All-WCC Preseason Team earned All-WCC First Team honors in the 2020-21 spring season, including both Player and Settler of the Year Whitney Bower (BYU), Freshman of the Year Meg Brown (Pepperdine), and Libero of the Year Madison Shields (Pepperdine). BYU led the way with five preseason selections, Pepperdine had four, San Diego and LMU placed two apiece, and Saint Mary's, Gonzaga, and Santa Clara had one each.
 
The Pilots will open preseason tournament play on Friday, August 27 at the Idaho Volleyball Classic, facing Nevada in the first match of the fall at 10:30 a.m. Portland meets tournament hosts Idaho later on Friday at 4:30 p.m., and the Pilots will close out the weekend with a final contest against Eastern Washington on Saturday August 28, set for 12:30 p.m.
 
2021 WCC Volleyball Preseason Coaches Poll
Team (First Place Vote), Points
1. BYU (9), 81
2. San Diego (1), 70
3. Pepperdine, 68
4. Loyola Marymount, 57
5. Santa Clara, 49
6. Saint Mary's, 38
7. Gonzaga, 29
8. Pacific, 27
9. San Francisco, 19
10. Portland, 12
 
2021 All-WCC Volleyball Preseason Team
Name, Institution, Yr., Pos.
Rachel Ahrens, Pepperdine, Jr., OH/OPP
Taylen Ballard-Nixon, BYU, Sr.*, OH
Elena Baka, Saint Mary's, Jr., OH
Whitney Bower, BYU, So., S
Meg Brown, Pepperdine, So., MB
Kennedy Eschenberg, BYU, Sr.*, MB
Grace Frohling, San Diego, Jr., OPP
Kari Geissberger, LMU, So., OH
Heather Gneiting, BYU, Jr., MB
Kate Grimmer, BYU, So., OPP
Alyssa Hughes, Gonzaga, Jr., MB
Katie Lukes, San Diego, Sr., OH
Megan Rice, LMU, Sr., OH
Madison Shields, Pepperdine, Sr., LIB
Julia Sangiacomo, Santa Clara, Jr., OH
Isabel Zelaya, Pepperdine, So., S/OPP