When Idaho State volleyball coach Sean Carter recently addressed the topic of where he expected his Bengals to finish this season, he said “somewhere in the top four.”

Well, apparently his fellow Big Sky Conference coaches agree, because that’s just about exactly where they put the Bengals in the preseason poll that was released Wednesday. Idaho State was picked to finish in a tie for third with Montana by the coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own teams, or for their own players for preseason honors.

Northern Colorado, which beat Idaho State in the Big Sky Conference Tournament championship last year, was the narrow choice to finish first in the regular season this year. The Bears had 88 points and four first-place votes to edge out defending regular-season champion Northern Arizona, which finished with 85 total points and the same four votes for first place.

Then came ISU and Montana tied with 72 points, although the Grizzlies got two first-place votes to none for the Bengals.

Weber State was fifth (69), followed by Montana State (61), newcomer Utah Tech (57, with one first-place vote), Portland State (43), Idaho (25), Eastern Washington (18) and Southern Utah (15), which is returning to the conference after a four-year hiatus in the WAC.

NAU’s Hannah Stoddard, who was co-MVP last season at outside hitter for the Lumberjacks, was the preseason MVP selection by the coaches this year. Stoddard ranked second in the league in kills with 461, and added 375 digs and 24 blocks.

Joining her on the 11-person preseason all-conference team is Bengal middle blocker Jaydin Watts, who was last year’s preseason MVP. The Lancaster, California, native was a second-team choice on the postseason all-conference team after recording 257 kills, 124 blocks and 329.5 total points on the season.

Here is the full All-Big Sky Conference preseason team:

MVP: Hannah Stoddard, Northern Arizona

Preseason All-Big Sky Conference team:

• Jaydin Watts, Idaho State
• Rose Moore, Weber State
• Delaney Russell, Montana
• Alayna Tessena, Northern Colorado
• Gigi Greenlee, Northern Arizona
• Alivia Eikenberg, Portland State
• Joelie Spelts, Montana State
• Nerea Alvarez Jorge, Northern Colorado
• Teagan Jaynes, Montana State
• Gracie Cagle, Montana

The Bengals open their regular season Aug. 28 in a tournament at Wichita State, where they will face Stephen F. Austin, Missouri State and the host Shockers over the two-day event.