ELMHURST, Ill. - The Western Illinois volleyball team was picked to finish fifth in the inaugural season of The Summit League, behind the three new member institutions and Oral Roberts.

IPFW was chosen as the preseason favorites, with 58 points and three first place votes. Oral Roberts was picked second, with 56 points, and South Dakota State took the third spot (54 points). North Dakota State rounded out the top four, earning 44 points as voted on by the league's nine head coaches. Western Illinois came in fifth with 37 points, followed by IUPUI with 30 tallies. Rounding out the poll are UMKC (21), Oakland (16) and Centenary (8).

Western Illinois returns five starters from the 2006 squad that finished second in the conference, its best performance in school history. Western made its third-consecutive appearance in the conference tournament last year and recorded its best home winning percentage in school history with a 9-1 mark. Leading the way is the lone returning Mid-Con co-Player of the Year, Ashley Baker, who is just 217 kills away from becoming the sixth WIU player to record 1,000 kills. Senior Amy Sauerwein is 192 kills shy of becoming the fourth Western player to record 1,000 digs and 1,000 kills in a career.

IPFW finished 2006 with an RPI of 88 and has 20 or more wins in each of the past four seasons. The Mastodons return five starters from last year's squad that ranked 19th in the nation in digs per game (19.08) and 52nd in match win/loss percentage (.722). The team will be led by senior libero Peachy Jankowski. The 2006 Division I Independent Defensive Player of the Year ranked 24th nationally with 5.62 digs per game last season.

Coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance, Oral Roberts is led by 2006 Mid-Con Setter of the Year Thais Parada and Jackie Oliveira, a second-team all-conference selection a year ago. With no seniors, the Golden Eagles will look to fill a large void left by three of last season's seniors - two-time Mid-Con Player of the Year Ori Zuzic, 2006 Mid-Con Defensive Player of the Year Cris Alves and Mid-Con first teamer Kim Snow.

South Dakota State returns four starters from last year's squad that posted a 22-12 record, but will rely on a pair of freshman setters. The team will be led by senior outside hitter Kristina Martin, who needs 438 kills to set the SDSU record (1,725), senior middle blocker Amy Anderson, who tallied a single-season school record 133 block assists in 2006, and senior libero Samantha Pearson, who is 405 digs away from the all-time mark of 1,615.

North Dakota State made the third best turnaround in NCAA Division I last year with a 17-13 record after a 5-31 campaign in 2005. Directing the Bison offense will be sophomore setter Mattie Johnson, the 2006 Division I Independent Newcomer of the Year. Meanwhile, senior libero Kari Fagnan is on pace to shatter NDSU's career digs record. The Bison also welcome seven freshmen to the team in 2007.

IUPUI is looking for its ninth-straight league tournament appearance. The Jaguars return four all-conference performers, including senior Devika Bellamy, who was a first team selection as well as an all-tournament team pick last year. Senior Carol Newell (second team) and sophomores Danielle Goodnight (all-freshman) and Monica Suding (all-freshman) also return.

UMKC is under the direction of new head coach Geno Frugoli, who is in his first season at the helm after spending the past three seasons as the top assistant at Baylor. The Kangaroos return eight letterwinners and three of their top four offensive weapons from a year ago. Sophomore setter Cailtin Koenig, an all-freshman selection a year ago, will guide the offense for the second straight year.

Oakland returns all of its starters from last year's squad and will be coached by Rob Beam, who is in his first season as a head coach after spending the last two seasons as an assistant at Illinois State. Leading the way will be Monica Frechen, the team's lone senior.

Centenary enters the season with only one senior on the roster and three total upperclassmen. The team will be coached by first year coach Patrick Maiden.