The Minot State volleyball team moved up two slots this year to be selected 14th in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference preseason volleyball poll as selected by the league head coaches and announced by the conference office on Monday.

The Beavers, who finished the 2018 season with a 13-17 overall record, received 42 points in the voting among the conference head coaches.

The defending NSIC Co-Champions Northern State University received six first place votes to tally 209 points from the league coaches. Minnesota Duluth, which shared the NSIC regular season title with NSU last year, and Concordia-St. Paul tied for second as both received 203 points. Wayne State was fourth in the poll with 178 points while Southwest Minnesota State rounded out the top five with 170 points.

The Beavers return five starters and will be led by NSIC Player to Watch senior Shelby Spuller, who topped the team with 401 kills and averaged 3.89 kills per set breaking the Minot State Division II record for kills in a season.

Minot State also returns juniors Emily Falldorf and Hayley Swain in the middle as that duo combined for 115 blocks last season. Falldorf also ranked third on the team with 212 kills, while Swain had 195 kills. Jeanne Brenner played in all 30 matches and had 221 kills, while Shae Pedersen saw action in 30 matches and had 184 digs. Junior Karli Koza returns to anchor the Beaver defense and led the team in 2018 with 533 digs.

Minot State opens the 2019 season at the Chaminade University Tournament on Sept. 6-7. The Beavers will open the home portion of their schedule on Sept. 20 against Sioux Falls.

— MSU athletics