Jason Walker, UP Sports Information Director
Great Falls, Mont. - Following a four-set victory over Arizona Christian on Labor Day, confidence is riding higher than at any point this season for the University of Providence volleyball team. That win came on the heels of two tough losses in the same weekend. That one moment, that one win may have changed the entire mindset of the team. Head Coach Arunas Duda said that it was a much-needed win, especially for morale. Duda has said through the first few weeks of the season that the inability to close out matches was the biggest growing pain. Is that in the past now? The team will find out this weekend as the Argos head north to Havre for the Frontier/North Star Crossover hosted by MSU-Northern.
Providence will play four matches in three days and coach Duda says the team is ready, "The team feels good. It was one of those situations where we are preaching all these things about really working hard and focusing on improvement in certain areas. I feel like we have improved in a lot of areas, but if they (the team) don't see those results, it is very hard to quantify that. So, to be able to see some results and get a win reinforces some things we have been working on."
Jenna Thorne had 14 kills, 11 digs to lead the way in the win over an opponent that had previously beaten fellow Frontier opponents Montana Tech and Montana Western. Something Duda says was big for confidence, "Beating them (Arizona Christian) on their home court was certainly big for us. We controlled a lot of that match as well. We controlled the tempo, we sided out well, we defended a lot better, we blocked in key situations. We still need to improve as a team, especially getting our middles going."
Early season tournaments like this coming weekend are good for any program and Providence will face four quality opponents from the neighboring North Star conference. As Duda explains, The Argos will see a little bit of everything, "There is a wide variety of teams that we will play. Valley City State, which just beat Carroll in 5, Mayville State is well-coached, they always give us a hard time, we usually go to five with them. We know that there are some good teams there that we are going to face. We just want to continue to improve. We are not looking at records, we are not looking at rankings, we are trying to prepare ourselves for conference matchups. What I am looking for is how consistent our team can be with that wide variety."
The Argos face Presentation (S.D.) at 12 PM Friday, Mayville State (N.D.) at 6 PM Friday, then play Dickinson State (N.D.) and Valley City State (N.D.) Saturday at 11 AM and 3:30 PM respectively. All Argo matches will be held at Havre High School with live stats and live video available at www.upargos.com.
