Griz open season on the road

The Montana volleyball team opens the 2015 season this Friday in Colorado Springs for a tournament at Air Force. It will be a new experience for every member of the Griz under new head coach Brian Doyon and his new system of play.

The team will open the tournament Friday at noon against Air Force, then face Northeastern at 5 p.m. on Saturday and New Mexico State at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Coverage: Mountain West and Campus Insider websites will have a live stream of the Montana game at noon on Friday that will be free to the public at http://campusinsiders.com/network/mw/live. Airforcestats.com will offer live stats for all of the weekend's matches.

The opponents:

Air Force: First up on Montana's schedule this weekend is Air Force, which just received its highest conference ranking in its program's history. The Falcons, like Montana in the Big Sky, were picked seventh in the Mountain West preseason poll. The team is coming off of a season that had the most conference wins in Air Force history. It's led to this season being just the third in program history that the Falcons have not been picked last in the conference standings.

Northeastern: Montana will play Northeastern Saturday at 5 p.m. The Huskies finished the 2014 season 10-20, not far off from Montana's 6-23 finish in 2014. It looks like seven is the number this season, with Northeastern also finding itself ranked seventh in its preseason conference poll. However, with two returning players receiving preseason conference honors and one returning 2014 rookie of the year, the team could end up being quite the handful for Montana.

New Mexico State: New Mexico State looks to be one of the tougher opponents Montana will face over the weekend. The Aggies were picked second in the Western Athletic Conference preseason poll this season, well above the rankings of the teams they will be facing. In addition, three of the team's five returning seniors were voted to the preseason All-WAC team.

What Montana's been up to: Montana's coming off its last week of two-a-day practices to rest up and get ready for its first tournament of the 2015 season.

"We've been working really hard in practice. I think this week is going to just put the polish on things and do some fine-tuning," said Coach Doyon.

The Grizzlies have been practicing from sun-up until sun-down since Aug. 9. They will return to a school-like schedule this week to help the girls prepare for classes but also rest their bodies for the long season ahead.

"We're trying to get back into a normal routine that we will be in for the school year but also give them time to heal from the tough two-a-days. This can be a dredge, but they've done a phenomenal job of working hard and staying confident. They've been doing their best on and off the court. Now I just want them to be rested and prepared and ready to go," said Doyon of his Grizzlies.

When asked about what he's hoping to see from the Griz this weekend, Doyon made clear he just wants his players to get the first game out of the way.

"You always just want to get into that first match. You want to see those first points and see how things feel. We want to get those preseason jitters out of the way and just get down to business. The team and coaching staff is really excited to play that first match and compete against a great team," Doyon said.

More than anything, Doyon is excited just to see the girls on the court during a real match. And when the Griz head home Sunday, he hopes the girls will have tested themselves and feel more prepared going into the rest of preseason play.

"This weekend will be testing a few things. For all the athletes, this is a new experience. They have a new head coach and they're playing with a different system," said Doyon, adding, "I just hope that they can come out staying confident. I want them knowing that the preparation they put in has paid off and that all that work we've done before this was for good reason. They should feel great about what they've done on the court."

Noteworthy: Montana has several noteworthy players returning to its roster this season that will no doubt lend themselves to a number of Montana successes.

Montana is returning five starters, redshirt senior Capri Richardson, redshirt junior Sadie Ahearn, juniors Raegan Lindsey and Michelle Robinson and redshirt sophomore Brielle Rolle, and two letter-winners, sophomores Taylor Schile and Janell Sparks.

Montana also brought in a senior transfer from West Virginia, Hannah Sackett, to the court this year to create a power-packed senior class. Sackett led the Mountaineers in kills as freshman and totaled 770 kills during her time at West Virginia.

Sackett's senior-class counterpart, Richardson, played and started in all 29 matches for the Griz in 2014. She averaged 1.94 kills and had 124 blocks on the season and will be coming into 2015 a returning second-team all-conference starting middle blocker and the team leader in hitting.

Upcoming: The Griz will travel to Spokane, Wash., next week to face Utah, Gonzaga and Wyoming.

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Players Mentioned

Sadie Ahearn

Raegan Lindsey

Capri Richardson

Michelle Robinson

Brielle Rolle

Hannah Sackett

Taylor Schile

Janell Sparks

University of Montana Athletics