BILLY HULL / BHULL@STARADVERTISER.COM
The Hawaii women’s volleyball team won its fifth consecutive Big West Conference championship last season at Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif.
Five-time defending Big West Conference champion Hawaii was picked to finish first in its final season of Big West women’s volleyball today.
The Rainbow Wahine earned five first-place votes and finished two points ahead of Cal Poly for the top spot in the BWC preseason coaches’ poll.
Hawaii defeated Cal Poly, which also received five first-place votes, in four sets in the final of the Big West Conference Championships last season in Irvine, Calif. UH also won both regular-season meetings.
Hawaii senior middle blocker Bri Gunderson, a transfer from Eastern Washington, was named to the seven-player preseason coaches’ team.
Gunderson ranked fifth in the nation with 154 blocks last season and was named to the All-Big Sky first team.
Cal Poly senior setter Emma Bullis and sophomore middle blocker Chloe Leluge were named to the preseason team along with UC Davis junior middle Ally Chandler and senior outside hitter Jade Light, UC Irvine senior libero Campbell Jensen and UC Santa Barbara sophomore outside hitter Eva Travis.
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UH opens the season in the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic next Friday against Marquette.
