BILLINGS, Mont. – Black Hills State volleyball will usher in the 2023 season with a four-game slate at the MSU Billings' Yellowjacket Volleyball Invitational, which begins on Friday, Sept. 1 and will go through Saturday, Sept. 2.
The tournament will include BHSU, Lubbock Christian, Minot State, Southeastern Oklahoma State, UMary, and the hosting MSU Billings. The Yellow Jackets will open the tournament on Friday with an 8 a.m. matchup against Lubbock Christian before later taking on Southeastern Oklahoma at 4 p.m.
Saturday's slate will include another pair of matchups for BHSU, with the Yellow Jackets squaring off against Minot State at 10 a.m. The good guys will then close out the tournament at 4 p.m. with the final match in the lineup against UMary.
Yellow Jacket Volleyball heads into 2023 after a 5-21 campaign last season that included a 4-14 RMAC record. BHSU will see nine athletes return to the court this season, including one of the RMAC's top liberos in
Haedyn Rhoades, who finished the season with the highest digs/set rate (5.16/set) in the RMAC and was 23
rd in NCAA DII in that category.
Nine new faces will also make their debut as Yellow Jackets this fall, including the experience of three transfer players. Head Volleyball Coach
Bree Davis, who was promoted to the full-time position in the off-season, will be entering year two of her tenure.
The Lady Chaps of Lubbock Christian enter the 2023 season following an 11-16 overall record, including 7-9 in the Lone Star Conference. LCU will see seven players return this season, including the talents of LSC All-Academic selections Kiana Fallaha and Kayton Genenbacher.
This contest will be the first time the Chaps and Yellow Jackets have met on the court since Sept. 13, 2019. In that match, LCU bested BHSU, 3-1, at the Chap Classic tournament.
Southeastern Oklahoma heads into the new season after a 4-25 record (1-15 in the Great American Conference) in 2022, finishing 12
th in the conference. The GAC preseason coaches' poll picked The Storm to finish 11
th in 2023. S.E. Oklahoma added eight new faces to the roster this year and will return seven from the previous season.
Storm Head Coach Nicole Solum-Mitchell returns to the helm for Southeastern for her fifth season.
The matchup between BHSU and S.E. Oklahoma State will be the first time both squads have shared the court together, with no prior contests dating back to 2004.
The Minot State Beavers come into 2023 off a campaign that featured a single win last season, which came against the University of Minnesota Crookston on Oct. 29, 2022. The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference preseason poll picked the Beavers to finish 15
th in the conference in 2023.
Between these two squads, the Yellow Jackets have remained on top at a 12-7 record over Minot State that dates to 2011. However, the last time both teams faced off, which was Sept. 5, 2014, the Beavers beat BHSU in straight sets.
The Marauders enter the tournament following a 6-22 (5-15 NSIC) campaign in 2022. Spending the offseason nurturing the team culture, Head Coach Abby Pollart enters her third season with fifteen returning players and two newcomers to her roster in 2023.
UMary enters the season picked to finish 13
th in the NSIC preseason polls, but the Marauders hope to get started on a better footing in 2023.
Since 2012, the Marauders are 0-5 against the Yellow Jackets, with BHSU picking up a 3-1 victory over UMary in their last matchup on March 14, 2021.
-BHSUAthletics.com-
