UTA begins their first year in the Sun Belt conference this year and the first sport to begin play will be the volleyball team, the only fall team sport. That will be at 7 pm at the College Park Center against Abilene Christian, a transitional DI program.
The Sun Belt released their preseason poll and it is about what I expected. From the post:
Summer doldrums are over. Volleyball begins play this week with the first matches at CPC.
Here's the SBC preseason poll with the parenthesis indicating last years record and, if applicable, the SBC record, bold is a non-SBC conference record:
1. Western Kentucky (33-4, 15-0) – 100 points
2. UALR (13-14, 9-5) – 77 points
Troy (21-12, 10-5) – 77 points
4. Arkansas State (19-14, 8-6)– 64 points
Texas State (14-16, 9-9) – 64 points
6. UT Arlington (9-22, 5-13) – 47 points
7. Louisiana-Lafayette (16-16, 6-8) – 46 points
8. South Alabama (13-17, 6-9) – 39 points
9. Georgia State (4-20, 2-10)– 24 points
10. Louisiana-Monroe (5-18, 1-13) – 13 points
This is about where I would put them. WKU is in the preseason top 25, so that is no shock. I think I would have Troy as outright 2. The Arkansas teams are even and round out the top four, in either order for me. And until we beat them on the court, you have to give the nod to Texas State.
As for the teams below us, historically, we are better than the Louisiana's, and as last year showed, that is the case even when we struggle. You'd have to go back to 1995 to find South Alabama's last winning season, both overall and conference. Didn't follow the Colonial, but past records indicate that Georgia State isn't that good, so that fits.
We have experience this year, something we didn't have last year, so hopefully that will translate into something better than what is listed here, but as it stands now, this seems to be pretty accurate with what we know about the conference.
Further, let me add the all-time records against our new conference mates.
Arkansas State, 7-1
Georgia State, 1-0
Lousiana-Lafayette, 8-0
Louisiana-Monroe, 38-2
South Alabama, 1-0
Texas State, 40-24
Troy, 0-0
UALR, 8-5
Western Kentucky, 1-0
Here's the SBC preseason poll with the parenthesis indicating last years record and, if applicable, the SBC record, bold is a non-SBC conference record:
1. Western Kentucky (33-4, 15-0) – 100 points
2. UALR (13-14, 9-5) – 77 points
Troy (21-12, 10-5) – 77 points
4. Arkansas State (19-14, 8-6)– 64 points
Texas State (14-16, 9-9) – 64 points
6. UT Arlington (9-22, 5-13) – 47 points
7. Louisiana-Lafayette (16-16, 6-8) – 46 points
8. South Alabama (13-17, 6-9) – 39 points
9. Georgia State (4-20, 2-10)– 24 points
10. Louisiana-Monroe (5-18, 1-13) – 13 points
This is about where I would put them. WKU is in the preseason top 25, so that is no shock. I think I would have Troy as outright 2. The Arkansas teams are even and round out the top four, in either order for me. And until we beat them on the court, you have to give the nod to Texas State.
As for the teams below us, historically, we are better than the Louisiana's, and as last year showed, that is the case even when we struggle. You'd have to go back to 1995 to find South Alabama's last winning season, both overall and conference. Didn't follow the Colonial, but past records indicate that Georgia State isn't that good, so that fits.
We have experience this year, something we didn't have last year, so hopefully that will translate into something better than what is listed here, but as it stands now, this seems to be pretty accurate with what we know about the conference.
Further, let me add the all-time records against our new conference mates.
Arkansas State, 7-1
Georgia State, 1-0
Lousiana-Lafayette, 8-0
Louisiana-Monroe, 38-2
South Alabama, 1-0
Texas State, 40-24
Troy, 0-0
UALR, 8-5
Western Kentucky, 1-0
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