SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The #5 University of Providence volleyball will kick off their postseason run in Sioux City on Tuesday, Nov. 29 when they take on Lindsey Wilson at 9:30 a.m. MDT in the first game of pool play of the NAIA National Volleyball Championship.

No matter the result Tuesday, the Argos (26-2, 10-0) will conclude pool play with a game against Life on Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 12:00 p.m. MDT. The winner of the three-team pool will be one of eight teams that advance to the quarterfinals, which will begin Thursday night. 

"We're excited to be here," head coach Arunas Duda said. "To be one of the final 24 teams is definitely a privilege. The girls have worked hard for this. We'll be ready to go tomorrow."

The squad enters as the 5^th overall seed in the tournament, after defeating Florida College in the Opening Round game on Nov. 20. The squad had a few practices last week in Montana before traveling to Sioux City. Since they've arrived in Iowa, the team has had two more practices at the Tyson Event Center in anticipation of the pool play games.

"The first practice was to get our legs back under us after our travel and the second one was a little bit more specific to the tournament and getting our mindset right," Duda said. "We were repeating some of the things that we needed to improve on for the tournament. We worked on some things that we have seen from the last couple of weeks. At the same time, we've been very specific on the opponents that we're going to be playing."

The Argos are entering the tournament red-hot. The win over Florida College in the opening round marked their 19^th straight win on the season – the team's last loss occurred on Sept. 10 against Bellevue. That winning streak includes an undefeated conference season en route to clinching the regular season conference championship and winning the tournament championship.

"For us, it's doing the things that have gotten us here all year long – consistency, ball control and being able to side out. I'm excited to see how our defense matches up against these teams. We have a few things that we're going to do to adjust to hopefully slow them down a little bit."

The team also has experience on their side -  this is the fourth straight season that the team has qualified for the final site at the NAIA National Championship.

"Our expectations are high," Duda said. "Every time we step on the court we expect to win. We know to do that we need to do the things well that got us here. I expect our senior leadership to kick in. I'm excited for the kids to get on the court and start playing finally."

The team will kickoff pool play with a matchup against Lindsey Wilson (25-5, 13-3). The Blue Raiders are led by 6-5 middle blocker Radaisy Valdez, who leads the nation in hitting percentage (.471)  

"They have some big, terminal hitters for sure," Duda said. "Radaisy is 6'5 so she'll cause some issues. They've got an outside hitter that's incredibly terminal as well. She jumps out of the gym and definitely puts the ball away with some power. They've got a couple of nice players that can definitely do some damage."

Win or lose on Tuesday, the Argos will have to shift their focus to Life (33-2) on Wednesday. The match against the Running Eagles will be a battle of the setters, as senior setter Jessie Prichard ranks fourth in the nation in assists per set (11.74).

"They've got a lot of maturity," Duda said. "They have two graduate transfers that add a lot to their program. Their setter and their middle seem to have a really good connection. They have good ball control and all-around play at a high level defensively. Life will bring some different challenges then we'll see tomorrow."

Fans that want to follow the Argos can watch on the NAIA Live Broadcast. A single day pass will cost you $9.95 while a tournament pass will be $39.95.