Aug. 11, 2003

For the third straight year the Santa Clara University women's volleyball team begins the season ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches' Association Preseason Top-25 poll. The Broncos, who began the 2001 season with the No. 22 ranking and the 2002 season with the No. 24 ranking, begin the 2003 campaign with the No. 14 ranking in the nation.

USC, the reigning NCAA Division I national women's volleyball champion, pulled in 64 of a possible 65 first-place votes to out-distance second-place Hawaii by 106 points in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches Top 25 Preseason Poll released on Aug. 11.

The four national semifinalist teams from 2002 hold the top four spots in the preseason poll. Florida is ranked third with 1,476 points, followed by 2002 runnerup Stanford with 1,447. West Coast Conference for Pepperdine nabbed the fifth spot followed by Minnesota, Nebraska, Northern Iowa, UC Santa Barbara and Arizona to round out the top-10.

SCU will take on five teams in the top-10, playing Arizona and Nebraska at their respective tournaments. Hawaii will be the home opener for the Broncos on September 28 in front of a national television audience when College Sports TV broadcasts the game as part of their AVCA Game of the Week package. Santa Clara will also take on Pepperdine twice during league play before wrapping up the 2003 regular season with a home match against Stanford on November 25.

In addition to the action against top-10 teams, the Broncos will also take on No. 12 Georgia Tech, No. 24 California and No. 25 Michigan State, giving SCU one of the toughest schedules in the country.