The Washington State volleyball team enters the 1997 season ranked seventh in the USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches’ Association Top 25 poll.

Once again, the Cougars’ biggest hurdle is Stanford. The defending national champion begins this season ranked No. 1 in the poll released Tuesday.

Stanford (31-2 last year) returns five starters, which include All-Americans senior outside hitter Kristin Folkl, sophomore outside hitter Kerri Walsh and senior setter Lisa Sharpley.

The Pacific-10 Conference also is represented in the Top 25 by No. 15 Southern California (21-9), No. 19 Washington (23-8), No. 20 Arizona (20-10) and No. 21 UCLA (17-14).

The Cougars (27-6) also return five starters. The list includes second-team All-American senior setter Stephanie Papke along with Jennifer Stinson, Keren Oigman, Elis Arias and Shannon Wyckoff.

Last year, the Cougars also began the season ranked No. 7. They lost to Stanford in the round of eight at the NCAA Tournament. However, during the regular season, the Cougars made history in October at Pullman by beating the Cardinal for the first time. They lost to them at Stanford in September.

The two meet this year on Oct. 17 in Pullman and Nov. 15 in Stanford, Calif.

The Cardinal, meanwhile, is joined at the top by No. 2 Penn State (31-3), No. 3 Nebraska (30-4), No. 4 Florida (37-2), No. 5 Long Beach State (33-3) and No. 6 Michigan State (26-7).

Both Nebraska and Florida made it to the Final Four last year. Tournament runner-up Hawaii (35-3) begins at No. 11.

Along with WSU’s 10 matches against ranked conference opponents, the Cougars also will face No. 17 Notre Dame (22-12) at the Arena in the Spikeoff Spokane tournament, Sept. 5-6. The Fighting Irish, ranked No. 1 in the District 1 division, return five seasoned players, including Spokane’s Jaimie Lee.

Stanford and WSU are ranked Nos. 1-2 in District 8, followed by Loyola Marymount, Southern California, Arizona, Washington, San Diego, UCLA, Cal State Northridge and Oregon State.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Volleyball poll USA Today/AVCA Coaches Top 25 women’s preseason volleyball poll with rank, school, first-place votes, total points, 1996 record and final 1996 ranking. School Pts ‘96 rec Rk 1. Stanford (58) 1,498 31-2 1 2. Penn State (2) 1,369 31-3 5 3. Nebraska 1,354 30-4 3 4. Florida 1,289 37-2 4 5. Long Beach State 1,220 33-3 10 6. Michigan State 1,074 26-7 6 7. Washington St. 1,039 27-6 7 8. BYU 1,000 27-7 8 9. Texas 933 23-7 11 10. Pacific 897 26-7 12 11. Hawaii 802 35-3 2 12. UC Santa Barbara 707 23-9 17 13. Texas A&M 663 25-8 19 14. Ohio State 649 27-6 13 15. USC 617 21-9 14 16. Loyola Mary. 613 26-3 9 17. Notre Dame 567 22-12 25 18. Wisconsin 555 25-8 15 19. Washington 485 23-8 18 20. Arizona 402 20-10 23 21. UCLA 254 17-14 - 22. South Florida 195 27-5 22 23. Colorado 166 19-10 - 24. Colorado State 162 23-11 - 25. Arkansas 157 26-11 - Others receiving points: George Mason (153); Georgia Tech (95); Maryland (93); Louisville (83); Minnesota (80); Kansas State (76); Northern Illinois (35); Duke (33); San Diego (27); Houston (21); San Diego State (19); Texas Tech (19); South Carolina (17); Oregon State (14); Rhode Island (12); Pepperdine (8); Pittsburgh (7); Georgia (5); N. Carolina (5); Oral Roberts (5); Arizona St. (4); Idaho (4); Illinois St. (4); Miami, Ohio (4); Ball St. (3); Massachusetts (2); Auburn (1); Butler (1).