OGDEN, Utah — Big Sky coaches picked the Portland State women's tennis team to finish sixth in the conference in 2015, as the conference released its preseason coaches' poll Thursday.
 
The Vikings earned 71 points in the poll in placing sixth, just behind Northern Colorado, which finished fifth in the poll with 75 total points.
 
Sacramento State, the 13-time defending Big Sky champions, topped the poll with 117 total points, and received nine of the 12 possible first-place votes in the poll. Montana, last season's Big Sky regular-season champion, picked up the other three first-place votes and placed second with 110 points.
 
Outside of the top two, Idaho and Northern Arizona finished third and fourth in the poll with 98 and 94 total points, respectively.
 
The sixth-place finish would qualify the Vikings for the Big Sky Tournament for the second straight season, after the Vikings qualified for the tournament for the first time as a program in 2014. The top six teams in the conference at the end of the regular season will qualify for the tournament, which will run April 24-26 at Gold River Racquet Club in Gold River, Calif.
 

Big Sky Preseason Coaches' Poll
Team	Points
1. Sacramento State	117 (9)
2. Montana	110 (3)
3. Idaho	98
4. Northern Arizona	94
5. Northern Colorado	75
6. Portland State	71
7. Montana State	68
8. Southern Utah	46
9. North Dakota	37
10. Weber State	31
11. Eastern Washington	29
12. Idaho State	16

First-place votes in parentheses