GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Non-conference play is over for (RV) Lady Argo volleyball, and with a record of 13-4, the team is about to begin its Frontier Conference schedule. The 2017 conference season will start on the road for UP, with a match in Dillon, Montana against Montana Western on Thursday, September 14, followed by a trip to Billings to square off against (RV) Rocky Mountain College.
 
The Lady Argos are well ahead of where they were this time last year. In 2016, the team was 6-7 when conference play began and despite coming off of a 3-2 upset of (25) University of Jamestown, the Lady Argos lost the conference opener, 3-2 to Western at home.
 
This year the situation is almost exactly the opposite. UP is 13-4 and received votes in the most recent NAIA Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 Poll but are coming off of a disheartening 3-2 loss at home to unranked Benedictine University at Mesa. The one similarity will be having the Bulldogs for the conference opener and this time the Lady Argos are looking to start off on a better foot.
 
The two teams have distinctly different strengths and styles. Statistically speaking, UP has been good but not great in just about every aspect of the game. The team ranks third in the conference every per-set category except for one. That one category is digs/set, which is the one category Western excels in. The Bulldogs are second in the Frontier with 19.6 dps t but don't rank higher than fifth anywhere else.
 
A major reason Western's dig numbers are so high is junior libero Dylan Fowler. Not only does Fowler lead the conference digs/set, but she is also second in the nation in the statistical category. UP has its own impressive individuals defensively, but they come at the net instead of in the back row. Middle blockers Kailey Rashford and Josee Pendleton rank second and third respectively in blocks/set in the conference and at 1.170 bps Rashford is 20th nationally, while at 1.150 bps Pendleton is 22nd.
 
Western enters the match 8-5 on the season with their two most recent contests being a 3-0 loss to BenU-Mesa, who also beat UP 3-2, and then a 3-1 win to Dickinson State Universit, who UP also beat 3-1. The two teams split their two meetings in 2016.
 
Following the trip to Dillon, the Lady Argos will play at Rocky Mountain College on Saturday, September 16. While the Battlin' Bears had a down year in 2016, with a record of 14-17 and the Lady Argos beating them twice in straight sets, the team looks improved so far in 2017. Rocky enters conference play with the second best non-conference record of any Frontier team, behind only UP. The Battlin' Bears are also receiving the most Top-25 votes of any team not in the Top-25.
 
Rocky has solid statistics across the board, ranking first or second in the conference in every category. The team also ranks fourth nationally with 21.63 dps, ninth nationally with 14.6 kills/set, and ninth nationally with 2.63 bps.
 
The team's effectiveness has a lot to do with freshman setter Natalie Hilderman, who in her first collegiate season is running an efficient offense and currently ranks 47th nationally in assists per set with 9.17.
 
Both the Montana Western and the Rocky Mountain matches will begin at 7 p.m.