Jason Walker, UP Sports Information Director
Great Falls, Mont. - The season begins anew Friday for the University of Providence volleyball team when the Frontier Conference Tournament kicks off at Butte.
The Argos are preparing for a run at a fifth straight tourney title starting with a match against MSU-Northern. The Argos and Skylights split during the regular season in league play with each winning at home. Providence did beat MSU-Northern at a non-conference tournament in four sets. MSU-Northern is the #4 seed in the tournament with an 11-12 overall mark, 3-7 in the conference. The Argos were 9-19 on the season and finished 2-8 in conference play and will enter as the 5-seed.
MSU-Northern is led by Jessalyn Chvilicek who is third in the Frontier with 2.82 kills/set. She averaged eight kills per match against the Argos in the two conference matchups. Alyssa Pretty Weasel has also been strong against Providence this year, collecting 21 combined kills and had 13 kills with five blocks in the Skylights win in September. Emily Feller averages 7.71 assists per set which ranks 5th in the Frontier.
For Providence, the offense has run through different standouts all season. Jenna Thorne is fifth in the Frontier with 296 kills, averaging 2.79 per set. Zoe Naugle has seen her game rise in the last month both in kills and at the net blocking. Naugle leads the conference with 1.19 blocks per set. Defensively, Taylor Christensen sits fifth in the Frontier averaging 4.84 digs per set and has produced 518 digs on the season.
"We are excited to compete in the Frontier Tournament," says Head Coach Arunas Duda. "Everyone is 0-0 again and what matters most is what we do next. There is a feeling of excitement with our team, and we have played some great volleyball down the stretch."
Providence and MSU-Northern start at 11 AM Friday at the HPER Complex at Montana Tech. The other quarterfinal match will start at 1 PM with Montana Western taking on Carroll College. The top two seeds are Montana Tech and Rocky Mountain College. Winners of the quarters will then battle Friday with Tech drawing the lowest remaining seed.
You can watch all the action as the Argos and Skylights battle at www.upargos.com.
