Aug. 7, 2001

Dallas, Texas -The University of Missouri volleyball team picked up a fourth-place preseason ranking in a vote by the Big 12's league head coaches. The Big 12 Conference office released the poll on Tuesday. The Tigers received 69 votes, tying the Kansas State Wildcats for the fourth of 11 spots. After being picked to finish ninth last season and grabbing a tie for second in the conference, head volleyball coach Susan Kreklow is excited about the challenge of continuing the upward swing the program is experiencing.

"This is definitely a strong indicator to us that we are developing a positive image for our program," Kreklow said. "We have a great opportunity to build on last season and do some goods things for Missouri Volleyball in 2001."

Defending Big 12 and National Champion Nebraska received 10 of the 11 first place votes while Texas A&M, which was picked to finish second, had one first-place vote. Colorado grabbed the third spot after finishing in a two way for third in the Big 12 last season while K-State and Mizzou rounded out the top five spots. The polling was based on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system with a first-place vote receiving 10 points. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team.

The Tigers opened preseason workouts today with a series of tests and meetings and will begin two-a-day workouts tomorrow. Mizzou begins the 2001 campaign on Sept. 1-2 when they travel to the Mountaineer Classic in Morgantown, W.V. Below is the 2001 Big 12 Conference Coaches' Preseason Poll.

2001 Big 12 Conference Coaches' Preseason Poll
1.	Nebraska	100
2.	Texas A&M	 90
3.	Colorado	 74
4.	Kansas State	 69
4.	Missouri	 69
6.	Texas Tech	 52
7.	Baylor		 48
8.	Texas		 46
9.	Kansas		 28
10.	Oklahoma	 19
11.	Iowa State	 10