IRVINE, Calif. - The Big West Conference announced its annual women's volleyball preseason coaches poll Tuesday and the University of California San Diego is expected to place seventh in 2021.

UC San Diego garnered 50 points in the poll, tying with CSUN for the seventh position in the 11-team contingent.

The University of Hawaii tops the list with 117 points and seven first-place votes. Cal Poly is second with 111 points and the remaining four first-place votes, and UC Santa Barbara rounds out the top-three with 90 points. Long Beach State (40 points) is fourth, UC Davis (83) is fifth, and UC Irvine (57) sits in sixth. Trailing CSUN and UC San Diego are CSU Bakersfield (35), Cal State Fullerton (25), and UC Riverside (20).

UC San Diego opens its season on Aug. 27 at the Cactus Classic, a two-day tournament hosted by the University of Arizona in Tucson. The Tritons will take on New Mexico and Marist on the opening day of action and finish against the host Wildcats on Aug. 28. It will be UC San Diego's inaugural competition as an NCAA Division I program. The 2020 season, which would have been the Tritons' first at their new division, was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

UC San Diego plays its first of 20 Big West Conference matches at UC Santa Barbara on Sept. 24.

The Tritons will host their first of 10 home matches on Oct. 1 (7 p.m.) when UC Riverside visits RIMAC Arena. All home contests will be aired live on ESPN+.

View the team's entire 2021 schedule here.

2021 Big West Conference Preseason Coaches Poll
1.   Hawai'i, 117 points (7 first-place votes) 
2.   Cal Poly, 111 (4) 
3.   UC Santa Barbara, 90 
4.   Long Beach State, 88 
5.   UC Davis, 83 
6.   UC Irvine, 57 
7.   CSUN, 50
      UC San Diego, 50 
9.   CSU Bakersfield, 35 
10. Cal State Fullerton, 25 
11. UC Riverside, 20 

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About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.