The men's volleyball team has earned a No. 8 ranking in the preseason poll of Volleyball Monthly magazine. The poll appears in the January 1991 issue.

The magazine cited the returning setting duo of Jim Schall and Scott Miller as a key to success. It also mentioned outside hitter Charlie Bertran, rightside hitter Tom Gingrich, and middle blocker Winfield Evens as the top returnees.

Key newcomers according to the magazine are middle blockers David Muir and Ramon Hernandez and rightside hitter Ed Josefoski.

To return to the Final Four, the magazine reports, Penn State must overcome last year's fifth game loss to Rutgers which kept them out of the Final Four, as well as the loss of All-America hitter Guillo Silva.

The magazine's preseason No. 1 is defending champion USC, followed by UCLA, Long Beach State, Cal State Northridge, Pepperdine, Stanford and UC-Santa Barbara. Rounding out the top 10 are Hawaii at No. 9 and Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne.

Volleyball Monthly also lists San Diego State, George Mason, Rutgers-Newark, Ball State, Loyola Marymount and Brigham Young as teams to watch.