For the fourth consecutive season, the league coaches pegged the Denver Pioneers as the 2017 #SummitVB preseason favorites.

The three-time defending regular season and tournament champs garnered 47 total points and a league-best five first-place votes. Hot on the Pioneers’ trail, though, is 2016 co-regular season champ and tournament runner-up South Dakota. The Coyotes registered 45 points and the most first-place votes (3) of any team outside of Denver since the 2014 preseason poll.

Oral Roberts slides into the No. 3 position with 35 points while Fort Wayne, who ranked seventh in this poll a season ago, moves into the No. 4 slot with 33 points. Omaha and North Dakota State (22 points each) tied for fifth, while South Dakota State (No. 7 – 12 points) and Western Illinois (No. 8 – 8 points) round out the rankings.