TU Volleyball Picked Second In Conference USA Preseason Poll

Tulsa senior Kellie Culbertson was selected to the Conference USA Preseason Volleyball Team, while the Golden Hurricane was picked to finish second in C-USA in a vote by the league's coaches, the conference office announced Wednesday.

Tulsa, which has won three straight C-USA regular season championships, received four first-place votes and 192 points. The Hurricane tied for second in the voting with UTSA behind Rice, which received three first-place votes and 200 points.

Culbertson is a two-time All-C-USA Second Team selection. She averaged 3.42 digs per set, 2.59 kills per set and 3.19 points per set as a junior last season to earn second-team honors. In three years for the Hurricane, Culbertson has totaled 732 kills (2.00 kills/set), 1,177 digs (3.22 digs/set), 106 service aces, 83 blocks and 884.5 points (2.42 pts/set).

In an indication of how competitive the 2013 C-USA championship race is expected to be, five of the top six teams in the preseason poll received first-place votes. UTSA received two first-place votes, North Texas received three votes to place fourth and Middle Tennessee received two votes to place sixth, while UTEP was picked to finish fifth.

The Golden Hurricane opens the 2013 season Aug. 30-31 at the Dayton Invitational, where it will face Dayton, Missouri State and Northeastern. The TU home opener is Sept. 3 as the Hurricane plays host to Oral Roberts at 7 p.m. at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.