UCI women’s volleyball team picked to finish third in Big West Conference

UC Irvine’s women’s volleyball team is ready for the season.

The UC Irvine women’s volleyball team received 62 points and was picked to finish third by the league’s nine coaches in the preseason poll released Tuesday.

It is the highest selection since 2009 when the squad was chosen second.

Last year’s champion Cal Poly is tabbed to repeat with 77 points and five first place votes followed by Hawaii, who secured the remaining four first-place votes and 75 points.

Long Beach State was fourth with 48 points, while UC Santa Barbara was close behind in fifth place with 45 points. UC Davis totaled 38 points for the sixth spot followed by CSUN (30), UC Riverside (18) and Cal State Fullerton (12).

UCI finished third in the Big West last season with a 10-6 league mark. The Anteaters, who advanced to the quarterfinals of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship a year ago, were 24-8 overall, tying the school record for wins. It was the first postseason appearance since 2004.

Head coach Ashlie Hain’s team returns three-first team all-league honorees Harlee Kekauoha, Idara Akpakpa and Haley DeSales.

Last season Kekauoha became the 14th Anteater to eclipse the 1,000-kill mark and she currently ranks 13th in the UCI career records with 1,026.

She also ranks fourth in aces (129) all-time. DeSales was second on the team and seventh in the conference last year with 355 kills, while Akpakpa paced the Anteaters and ranked sixth in the Big West with a .357 hitting percentage.