West Texas A&M is favored to win its seventh consecutive Lone Star Conference championship, according to the 2012 LSC preseason volleyball poll announced Tuesday.
      The league's preseason polls reflect the opinions of LSC head coaches and sports information directors, plus various media representatives from throughout the region.
      The 2012 volleyball season begins in late August, with 11 teams set to compete.  LSC teams will use a one-conference double round-robin scheduling model, in which each team plays a home and away match against each of the other teams.
      The LSC champion will be the regular season winner determined by league matches, while the postseason tournament winner is designated as LSC Tournament Champion and earns the conference’s automatic qualification.  The top eight teams in the final conference standings qualify for the postseason tournament set for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 15-16-17, using the NCAA regional format at the No. 1 seed.
      WTAMU (34-3 overall, 19-1 LSC) captured its sixth straight and 17th overall league title in 2011, but had its NCAA and LSC record 87-match winning streak against conference opponents dating back to 2006 stopped. 
      The Lady Buffs earned first-place votes on 21 of the 27 ballots for a total of 291 points.  Angelo State earned five first-place nods to finish second with 269 points. 
      Abilene Christian was third with 227 total points, Tarleton State fourth (206), Texas Woman’s fifth (203 plus remaining first-place vote), Cameron sixth (130), Midwestern State seventh (125) and Texas A&M-Kingsville (112) eighth.  Texas A&M-Commerce (96), Incarnate Word (93) and Eastern New Mexico (30) rounded out the poll.

Rank	Team	1st	TOTAL
1	West Texas A&M	21	291
2	Angelo State	5	269
3	Abilene Christian		227
4	Tarleton State		206
5	Texas Woman's	1	203
6	Cameron		130
7	Midwestern State		125
8	Texas A&M-Kingsville		112
9	Texas A&M-Commerce		96
10	Incarnate Word		93
11	Eastern New Mexico		30