GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The #10 University of Providence volleyball team will conclude their non-conference schedule this weekend at the Frontier Conference Preseason Tournament in Havre, Mont. 

Though the Argos (9-2) will play four games against conference opponents, the games will be counted as non-conference matchups.

The Argos will start the tournament with a game against their rival Carroll College on Friday at 11:00 a.m., followed by a game against Montana Western Friday evening at 5:30 p.m. The team will conclude the tournament on Saturday, with a game against Rocky Mountain College at 3:00 p.m. and Montana State-Northern at 7:00 p.m.

"I think these games are going to look like regular conference matches," head coach Arunas Duda said. "It'll be a learning experience for our new girls so that they can see what conference is like and play some Frontier teams. After this weekend we'll know how to prepare for them a bit better."

The Argos are off to a hot start on the year. They've already beaten five ranked teams so far this season and currently hold their highest national ranking in program history. The Argos are currently the highest ranked team in the Frontier Conference; Montana Tech, the lone conference team that the Argos won't play this weekend, is currently ranked 15^th.

"I feel like we really challenged ourselves with our non-conference schedule," Duda said. "We learned a lot about ourselves and things that we need to improve on still and areas where we need to shore up before we head into conference. That only happens when you play better teams. If you can get away with things early on then you don't get the opportunity to fix them. I thought we did a good job of really challenging ourselves and playing top-tier competition."

Though the Argos are pleased with the way they've started the season, the team knows there is plenty of room for improvement. In last weekend's  loss to #11 Bellevue, the team didn't block particularly well, leading to some lapses defensively.

"Our blocking can be a strong point for us but it's just not there yet," Duda said. "We don't have to block a ton of balls but we have to do something at the net to help our defense behind us. We played a pretty good setter at Bellevue and she moved that ball around quickly and found her seams and knew how to attack us pretty well. I think we learned a lot from that and blocked a lot better as the weekend went on."

The Argos have plenty of confidence to go around though. The Argos have three-time Frontier Conference Setter of the Week Cydney Finberg-Roberts leading the attack. Finberg-Roberts has a ton of hitters at her disposal, including Attacker of the Week award winners Sadie Lott and Jenna Thorne. Sacha Legros, who led the nation in digs per set last season, and Taylor Christensen anchor the team's defense.

"We're a little bit more diverse than we were in year's past," Duda said. "We move the ball around pretty well with our middles and our outsides. With Sacha's play, our defense is definitely one of our strong points. Our ball control and our defense are our two main components."

The team will kick off their tournament against the Fighting Saints (7-5) at 11:00 a.m. Friday morning.

"Nobody ever wants to lose to a rival," Duda said. "We almost always go five sets with them. It's going to be a fun one."