University of Providence Sports Information
 
Great Falls, Mont. – After making a trip to the final eight at the NAIA National Tournament a year ago, the University of Providence volleyball team is ready for a run to the Fab Four and beyond in 2022. The Argos will open the season this weekend at Butte, playing other top teams in the country at the Big Sky Challenge hosted by Montana Tech.

2021 was a historic season for the Argos, as the team finished with a school record 28 wins, including a 21-match win streak. Providence won it's pool at the National Tournament and went unbeaten in Frontier Conference play, sweeping both the regular season and conference tournament crowns. If the Argos look to repeat last fall's success, they will have to rely on a team that no longer features Sasha Legros and Cydney Finberg-Roberts after the two graduated. Providence will return Jenna Thorne who led the team in kills last year with 362 kills, earning the Junior from New Zealand Frontier Newcomer of the Year, 1^st team All-Conference and 1^st team All-Region awards. Thorne will be surrounded by a plethora of talent including Madysen Hoerner who was named to the Frontier's all-freshman team. Hoerner recorded 193 kills and was an integral part the team's success says Head Coach Arunas Duda, "Yeah, she's a big athletic kid that can do a lot of things for us. We've been putting her in the middle a little bit this preseason and she's spent some time on the outside as well. She's just a big, physical, great athlete so we're excited about what opportunities she has and she'll make a big impact when she gets back on the court."

Losing Finberg-Roberts, Legros and also Sadie Lott is a big deal and Duda says it's going to take a little bit for this team to peak, "What we have to realize is that we have a different group, different squad, different goals and a different path to getting there." Providence will open the year beginning Thursday afternoon with a game against Midland University in a battle of preseason top 10 teams. The Warriors went 25-6 last year, falling to Marian (Ind.) in a tiebreaker in Sioux City. Midland was picked 2^nd in the Great Plains Athletic Conference and returns it's entire roster led by Seniors Taliyah Flores and Brooke Frederickson. The two combined for 699 kills along with Sophomores Abbey Ringler (301 kills) and Cortlyn Schaefer (232 kills.) Coach Duda, who is entering his 19^th season at the helm of the Argos, says Midland will be a top 5 team all year, adding that the focus will be on the growth of his own team, "Wins are always important to any coach, we always want to win, but the growth piece is a little more important overall…any win this weekend will be pretty significant for us."

The Argos will rely on Thorne once again to lead the team both on the court and in a leadership role, something Duda says she already is doing, "She's jumping well, she's moving well, she's putting the ball away extremely well. To have a leader, to have an All-American returning that we can throw the ball to whenever you need, she's going to do some good things with it, that's huge. She been that leader for us on the court and we expect to continue to see that through the year."

Providence plays Midland at 3 pm Thursday at the HPER Complex, before facing Bushnell (Ore.) at 11 am Friday, Northwest University (Wash.) Friday at 3 pm and will wrap up the challenge Saturday at 11 am against Vanguard (Calif.), with those 3 matches at the Maroon Activity Center. 

Matches can be streamed at www.upargos.com