GREAT FALLS, Mont. – After splitting their games during opening weekend, the path for the University of Providence women's volleyball team doesn't get any easier. The Argos (1-1, 1-1) will host #18 Rocky Mountain College for a double-header this weekend.

Before last Friday's match against Carroll, head coach Arunas Duda didn't know what to expect from his team. The last time he had coached a game had been 420 days prior, and he had lost three key seniors from a team that won a share of the regular season and swept through the Frontier Conference Tournament last season. Add a shortened preseason with a roster consisting of ten freshman and you wind up with a head coach who wasn't sure how the opening weekend would go.

The Argos came to play however, defeating Carroll in four sets on Friday before falling to the Fighting Saints in a nail-biting five-setter on Sunday.

"We learned we're a pretty gritty team," Duda said. "There was a couple of times at Carroll on the second day where we just looked exhausted and I thought we could have just quit. I saw some players step up and show a lot of determination. I was really proud of the effort."

One of the players was setter Cydney Finberg-Roberts. Finberg-Roberts was directing traffic, moving the ball to a plethora of hitters. She recorded 49 assists on Friday night followed by 51 sets on Saturday, and was named the Setter of the Week by the Frontier Conference.

Senior Sacha Legros also stepped up for the Argos, recording 75 digs on the weekend, enough to lead the conference in digs per set (8.3). Freshman Sadie Lott also showed a lot of all-around talent, recording 34 kills and 26 digs while playing all six rotations. 

"We had a freshman step up big," Duda said. "Sacha leads the conference in digs per set. Finberg-Roberts won the conference setter of the week and is moving the ball around really well. We definitely have the pieces, but we need to play better as a system."

The Battlin' Bears (2-0, 2-0) present a steep challenge for the Argos. The two teams know each other quite well with some heightened matches last season. In the regular season finale last season, the two teams had a thrilling five-set match, in which Finberg-Roberts ended up setting the Frontier Conference record for assists in a game. The Argos then swept the Battlin' Bears in the semifinals of the Frontier Conference Tournament en route to winning the Frontier Conference Championship. The Bears return a lot of players from that team and will likely have a chip on their shoulder.

"They're a very solid team from the sense of very good ball control, they don't make a lot of errors, can hurt you from every position on the court and their libero flies around and touches everything," Duda said. "I anticipate to be a really good battle."

"If we can eliminate errors on our side, the ball is just going to move back and forth," Duda said. "It's just going to be a fun one to watch and a fun one to be in. There's going to be some long rallies and there's going to be some exciting plays and some spectacular plays on both sides I'd assume."