St. LOUIS -- Following a 2009 season when the Missouri State volleyball team finished 21-10 and 14-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference, the Bears have been picked to finish second in the 2010 MVC race by the league’s coaches in the preseason poll released today. Senior Cara Hackmann and junior Calli Norman are among the six preseason all-conference choices.
   
    Defending champion UNI is the unanimous favorite to repeat, garnering all 10 first-place votes and 100 total points, while the Bears grabbed 86 points. Wichita State earned 80 points for third and Creighton is fourth with 63 points.
   
    Drake (61) and Southern Illinois (56) round out the six teams expected to make the league tournament held in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Nov. 25-27.

    Hackmann, the MVC Libero and Defensive Player of the Year in 2009, was chosen to repeat on the MVC first team this season. As a junior, she set school records with 671 digs and a 5.74 per set average, and enters her final season 129 digs away from the school’s career record.

    Norman is slotted to make her third consecutive appearance on the first team following an outstanding sophomore season in which she led the MVC and ranked second in MSU history with a .364 hitting percentage to go with 3.03 kills and 0.89 blocks per set.

    Missouri State, which has finished fourth or better in the league standings and won at least 20 matches in each of the last 11 seasons, opens the 2010 season in Hempstead, N.Y., for a three-match tournament Aug. 27-28. The Bears will face Texas State, Canisius and tournament host Hofstra while on the east coast.