Rainbow Wahine picked to win Big West

The Rainbow Wahine volleyball team was picked to win the Big West Conference in the preseason coaches poll released Wednesday.

Hawaii received eight first-place votes and 80 points in the poll. Defending Big West champion Long Beach State had one first-place vote and was second with 68 points. UC Santa Barbara was third with 56.

CSUN was fourth with 53, followed by UC Davis (50), UC Irvine (39), Cal Poly (32), UC Riverside (15) and Cal State Fullerton (12).

Hawaii, which finished 22-7 last year, opens the season at home against Idaho on Aug. 28 in the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational.