Concordia (St. Paul) was picked first in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference coaches' preseason volleyball poll — for the 13th year in a row.
The Golden Bears received 13 of a possible 15 first-place votes. Southwest Minnesota State was second in the poll and Minnesota Duluth third.
Concordia won its 12th NSIC title last season in the past 13 years and its fourth conference tournament.
Senior middle blocker Riley Hanson of the Golden Bears was named the NSIC's preseason player of the year. Concordia will host a season-opening tournament Sept. 1-3.
Etc.
• Senior defenseman Lee Stecklein will be the Gophers' captain in women's hockey this season. She was a co-captain last season and an assistant captain as a sophomore. The assistant captains this season will be senior forwards Dani Cameranesi and Kate Schipper.
• Lee Meier, the assistant boys' tennis coach at Crookston High School, was named the women's tennis coach at Minnesota Crookston.
• The U.S. team will play the Czech Republic at 7:15 p.m. Friday in the Under-17 Five Nations hockey tournament at the Dr Pepper StarCenter in Frisco, Texas. The team, coached by Cory Laylin, Hamline's head coach, is 2-0 in the tournament with a 6-2 win over Switzerland and a 10-1 win over Slovakia on Wednesday. Blake McLaughlin of Grand Rapids, Minn., scored twice against the Slovaks.
• North Central University of Minneapolis named Justin Brown its baseball coach. He was an assistant coach Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Ohio.
