Commerce, Texas

In a new format for the 2007 Lone Star Conference volleyball season, the Texas A&M University-Commerce team is picked to finish eighth out of 13 teams in a pre-season poll announced on Monday.

In the new format, teams will compete in a one-conference, single round-robin scheduling model in 2007. Each team will play a total of 12 league matches, one against each of other teams in the conference.

Defending LSC champion and 2006 NCAA Division II semifinal member West Texas A&M was picked to win the conference with 30 of the 35 first-place votes. Abilene Christian claimed the other five first-place votes.

Texas A&M-Commerce returns eight letterwinners from its 2006 squad including three-time all-conference selection at middle blocker, senior Colleen Favaro from San Antonio, all-region and all-conference honoree libero, sophomore Lauren Flynn from Deer Park and all-conference pick senior Wannie Neal from Liberia. In addition to the eight returnees, the Lions have brought in an accolade-filled recruiting class for the upcoming season.

The 2007 season gets underway on August 24th at the Southeastern Oklahoma State Tournament, where they will face Wiley in a 3:30 pm contest.