FRISCO, Texas – Defending Southland champions SFA were tabbed as the conference favorites ahead of the 2026 volleyball season, headlining the preseason poll announced by the conference office Friday. The Ladyjacks earned eight first-place votes, tallying a total of 118 points.
UTRGV claimed the second-place nod with three first-place votes and 113 points while A&M-Corpus Christi came in third with 89 points and one first-place vote. Southeastern and Lamar rounded out the top five with 88 and 87 respectively. UIW secured 86, followed by HCU (57), East Texas A&M (49), McNeese (45), LSU New Orleans (28), Nicholls (17) and Northwestern State (15).
First serve of the Southland volleyball season comes Friday, Aug. 28 with the conference season starting on Wednesday, Sept. 23.
The Southland Conference preseason poll is voted on by either an institution's head coach or sports information director, resulting in one vote per school. Each voter ranks their predicted order of regular season finish, not including their own team. The 2026 Women's Volleyball Championship is set for November 20 through Noveber 22 in Corpus Christi, Texas.
PRESEASON POLL
| Place |
Team (First-Place Votes) |
Total |
| 1. |
SFA (8) |
118 |
| 2. |
UTRGV (3) |
113 |
| 3. |
A&M-Corpus Christi (1) |
89 |
| 4. |
Southeastern |
88 |
| 5. |
Lamar |
87 |
| 6. |
UIW |
86 |
| 7. |
HCU |
57 |
| 8. |
East Texas A&M |
49 |
| 9. |
McNeese |
45 |
| 10. |
LSU New Orleans |
28 |
| 11. |
Nicholls |
17 |
| 12. |
Northwestern State |
15 |