BURNSVILLE, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State University's women's volleyball team was picked to finish second in the annual 16-team Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll that was released on Tuesday.
 
Also announced today, SMSU's Taylor Reiss, the reigning two-time NSIC Offensive Player of the Year and last season's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) National Player of the Year, was named as the conference's 2018 Preseason Player of the Year.
 
Reiss, a native of Taunton, Minnesota, finished second in Division II last season with 605 kills, was third in the country with 5.69 kills per set and was fifth in total attacks with 1,512. She closed the season hitting .305, while also recording 363 digs, 73 total blocks and 24 service aces. She led the conference in both kills per set (4.9) and points per set (5.4) during conference play.
 
In the SMSU career record book, Reiss begins her final season ranked second in kills per set (4.66), third in points per set (5.31), eighth in attack percentage (.310) and seventh in total kills (1,482).
 
Concordia-St. Paul, which has won the last two NCAA championships, was selected as the preseason favorites to win the conference for the 15th consecutive year, earning 225 points and all 15 first place votes (coaches can't vote for their own school). SMSU garnered 210 points and one first place vote, finishing ahead of third place Minnesota Duluth, which finished with 194 points. Northern State was selected fourth with 176 points, while Wayne State rounded out the top five with 164 points.
 
SMSU is coming off of 29-4 season in 2017, which included an NSIC Tournament championship and the No. 1 seed at the NCAA Central Region Tournament held in Marshall.
 
SMSU opened practice on Monday and will begin the new season on Aug. 24-25 with a four matches at the University of West Florida Invitational in Pensacola, Florida.