Preseason sports polls don’t mean much to some people, but to the undergrads that represent Rhode Island College in Little East Conference women’s tennis, the annual balloting speaks volumes about how much respect the Anchorwomen earned in 2015.

Scott Gibbons, RIC’s veteran and award-winning sports information director, announced Tuesday that head coach Adam Spring’s Anchorwomen have been ranked No. 1 among their Little East Conference rivals.

“Our women’s (tennis) team has been selected as the pre-season favorite to win the LEC in the 2015 fall season,” Gibbons said. “And this is a wonderful honor for our team, coach, players and school.”

Gibbons explained that a total of nine LEC coaches participated in the annual preseason balloting and it marks the second time in as many seasons that Rhode Island College has been tabbed as the team to beat.

One reason, in particular, may be that Spring’s squad played its way into the LEC title match last year but fell to host Plymouth State College.

Yet another reason for the pre-season ranking is that RIC returns four All-Little East Conference players back from that runner-up club including Julie Reddy, a junior from Smithfield who earned first team honors at both No. 1 singles and No. 4 doubles last season.

Senior Sadie Campanella, yet another talented Rhode Islander on this year’s squad, joined Reddy as a First Team All-LEC selection at No. 1 doubles.

Likewise, Cranston’s Tressa Cannata – a talented senior – and sophomore Laura Nastasi of Smithville, N.J., were both second team All-LEC selections a season ago and as Spring noted this week “will look to provide depth for the Anchorwomen this season.”

RIC finished the annual LEC preseason poll with two first-place votes and a total of 73 points. Bridgewater State also picked up a pair of first place votes and was selected second behind the Anchorwomen with 67 points.

Plymouth State, which as noted is the defending champion, landed the most first place preseason votes – five – and was selected to finish third by way of 66 points.

The remainder of the LEC pre-season women’s tennis rankings went as follows: UMass Dartmouth, 55 points; Worcester State, 37 points; Salem State, 34 points; UMass Boston, 33 points; Western Connecticut, 23 points; and Southern Maine, 12 points.