BEMIDJI - After struggling in the 2014 season, the Bemidji State volleyball team might once again have an uphill climb against their Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foes in 2015.
League coaches picked the Beavers to finish 14th overall this season in a preseason poll released Tuesday.
The Beavers, who finished 5-23 overall last season, won just three conference games in 2014 and were 14th overall in the conference - ahead of a pair of one-win St. Cloud State and University of Mary teams.
This season NSIC coaches expect a similar result, with BSU picked to finish 14th, St. Cloud 15th and U-Mary 16th.
Concordia-St. Paul was again picked to finish first (the 12th straight year they have been picked to take first), garnering 11 first-place votes. National runners-up Southwest Minnesota State were picked to finish second and earned three first-place votes while NSIC regular-season champion Minnesota Duluth was picked to finish third with two first-place votes.
The conference coaches did select BSU’s Jess Yost as its player to watch for this season.
Yost, a junior outside hitter and Bemidji High School graduate, started all 28 of BSU’s matches in 2014, posting 300 kills to lead the Beavers. She finished second on the team with 23 service aces, fourth in digs with 204 and third in blocks with 48.
BSU opens the season at 11 a.m. Sept. 5 against Ohio Dominican. The match opens the four-match Grand Valley State Laker Riverfront Classic. As a part of the event, the Beavers will also face Daemen College, Grand Valley State and Carson-Newman in Allendale, Mich.
The Beavers’ first home match is Monday, Sept. 14, against nonconference foe Northern Michigan.
