LOS ANGELES – The Loyola Marymount volleyball team has been picked to finish fourth in the 2019 West Coast Conference Preseason Volleyball Coaches Poll, while three Lions were named to the 2019 All-WCC Preseason Volleyball Team, announced by the WCC on Monday.
 
"This will be another competitive year in the WCC," said head coach Aaron Mansfield. "After half the WCC teams made the NCAA tournament in 2018, our team knows that anything can happen on any given night in conference play. Our team has a very competitive pre-season schedule which will help us prepare to compete for a conference championship. Our team looks forward to taking on the challenges ahead of us."
 
The Lions' fourth place pick comes after the team put together a 12-10 overall record and a 10-8 conference record. LMU was one of five WCC teams to make a 2018 NCAA Tournament appearance, which also included BYU, San Diego, Pepperdine and Saint Mary's. 
 
LMU made it to the second round of the tournament after sweeping Duke 3-0, and then fell to Stanford 3-0. The Lions' tournament stint started after the team upset No. 1 BYU at home 3-0. The Cougars were picked to finished first in the conference, with San Diego to finish second and Pepperdine to finish third. 
 
The Lions weren't able to pull off a win against San Diego or Pepperdine last season, but swept Portland, Santa Clara, Saint Mary's and San Francisco. 
 
Seniors Tess Reid, Megan Rice and Savannah Slattery were named to the All-WCC Preseason Team. The seniors were among 16 others selected from the conference. 
 
LMU will kick off its season this Saturday with an exhibition match against Long Beach State. The team will play in its first match on August 30 against Samford University in Tucson Ariz. at the University of Arizona Tournament.