IUK volleyball, women's soccer teams top RSC polls
Aug. 11—MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — IU Kokomo's volleyball and women's soccer teams are preseason favorites in the River States Conference.
In volleyball, the Cougars led the polling of the league's head coaches with 10 of the 14 first-place votes.
Last season, IU Kokomo went 30-7 overall (16-2 RSC). The Cougars won their fifth RSC tournament title in a row and made another trip to the NAIA national tournament.
Point Park (Pennsylvania) University, last year's RSC regular-season champion, came in second in the poll with 142 votes and three of the first-place votes. IU East grabbed a first-place vote as well and placed third in the poll.
There are 14 teams in RSC volleyball this year. Seven teams each make up the RSC East and West divisions. Newcomer Shawnee State (Ohio) is in the East while other newcomer Indiana University Purdue University Columbus is in the West. IU East has moved to the East to even out the divisions with the departure of Carlow University.
IUK opens against Cornerstone on Aug. 25.
In women's soccer, IUK was on top in the voting with three teams splitting the 11 first-place votes.
IUK led the poll with 93 total votes. The Cougars received four first-place votes as did Point Park, which was second in the polling with 87 votes. Shawnee State received the remaining three first-place votes and was third in voting.
IUK won the conference tournament last year and advanced to the NAIA national tournament for the first time. The Cougars finished 14-3-3 overall and 8-1-1 RSC.
IUK faces Blue Mountain Christian on Thursday at Blue Mountain, Mississippi, to open the season.
