Men's Volleyball
    USC Men's Volleyball Picked No. 1 In 2010 MPSF Pre-Season Poll
    Trojans return 6 starters from 2009 MPSF tourney champ, NCAA runner-up squad.
    USC's 2009 MPSF tourney champs
    USC's 2009 MPSF tourney champs

    Dec. 9, 2009

    The USC men's volleyball team has been picked by the league coaches to win the 2010 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title in the pre-season coaches' poll released today (Dec. 9).

    The Trojans picked up 112 points and 5 first-place votes to top the poll.

    USC tied for fifth in the MPSF regular season last year, but then won its first-ever conference tournament championship and finished second at the NCAA Tournament. But for the libero and a pair of reserves, the Trojans return their entire roster, including All-Americans Murphy Troy and Tony Ciarelli and NCAA All-Tournament selections Austin Zahn and Riley McKibbin.

    Defending NCAA champion UC Irvine placed second in the poll, just 2 points out of first while also getting 5 first-place votes. Stanford came in third with 97 points, BYU fourth with 88 points and 1 first-place vote, Pepperdine placed fifth with 82 points and UCLA completed the top half of the poll with 74 points and 1 top vote. The second half of the poll includes, in order, Long Beach State, CS Northridge, Hawaii, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, and Pacific.

    The top eight finishers in the 2010 MPSF standings after 22 regular season conference matches advance to the MPSF Championship Tournament.

    The Trojans open their 2010 season on Jan. 7-9 at the Outrigger Hotels Invitational in Honolulu, Hi., facing Penn State, Ohio State and Hawaii, before beginning MPSF play at UCLA on Jan. 13.