BUTTE — Another week, another shake up in the rankings. While the top two programs in Providence and Bellevue have remained unchanged, the rest of the top-five standings have continued to shift. The preseason hope and excitement around the Frontier conference expanding was rooted in greater competition for all programs, and that has shown itself to be true thus far.
Here are the latest storylines from the last week of Frontier volleyball.
Are the Argos even better than last year?
We’ve mentioned Providence in this notebook a couple times before, and with good reason. Head coach Arunas Duda, in his 22nd year at the helm, has built a dominant program which has seen great success in recent years. In doing so, they keep forcing their way to the top of the conversation.
Yet this week the Argos deserve some praise sung. They’ve not dropped a single game since conference play began; in fact, they’ve lost only one game all season. They’re on a 15-game winning streak. They’ve not relinquished their No. 1 spot atop the Frontier standings. And this week, they swept the Frontier Volleyball Players of the Week honors, with the attacker, setter and defender of the week all being an Argo.
The Argos are putting up an impressive season this far – perhaps even better than last season? Providence finished 2024 with a 27-7 overall record, 12-3 in conference play and claimed the regular season and Frontier conference crowns.
But at this point in the season last year, the Argos were 13-3. Today, they are two games ahead of their 2024 selves, and when you take into consideration the expanded competition they’ve had to face thus far, that fact becomes all the more impressive.
You can’t even make the argument that Providence has had an easy schedule thus far. Its lone loss on the season came against Eastern Oregon, a top-five nationally ranked program outside the Frontier. The Argos have now swept every new Frontier rival. That is no easy task.
It should be noted that Montana teams are currently dominating the top five spots in Frontier rankings, with Bellevue at No. 2 being the lone non-Montana team. It could be argued the stiffest competition has yet to come for the Argos, with their next two matchups coming against Montana Tech and Montana Western.
If Providence can plow through those teams as it has done to every other team this season, it may be very likely the Argos can finish the season even better than they did last year. Can they repeat as back-to-back regular season and Frontier champs?
Speaking of those top Montana teams
Now that we’ve (re)established the Argos’ volleyball dominance, let’s take a look at how the remaining top five spots after Bellevue are looking. They’ve taken an interesting turn in the past week.
For one, as previously noted, Nos. 3-5 are occupied by Montana teams: Montana Tech, Carroll and MSU-Northern. For another, they’re all sitting at 6-3 in conference play, and each, besides Tech, are all just one game behind the other overall, making the Frontier rankings particularly tight.
Last week, we mentioned the Skylights and Fighting Saints as two teams to look out for as conference play continues. Since then, MSU-Northern has dropped just one game, to Frontier No. 2 Bellevue, and Carroll made its way through both Tech and Western – not an easy feat.
This weekend will have a slate of high-stake games that will continue to reveal who the top teams are in the conference: Tech will need to face an unbeaten Providence squad, but the Orediggers have home court advantage working in their favor. If Tech upsets the Argos to hand them their first loss of conference play, that would be a huge upset – not enough to knock Providence from the No. 1 spot, but enough to potentially steal the No. 2 spot from Bellevue for the first time all season should the Bruins fall to Valley City State and/or Mayville State (although very unlikely).
Carroll should be able to cruise by Bismarck State and Dickinson State this weekend, and the Skylights will be put to the test with back-to-back matches against Western and Tech. Whatever happens, after this week, we will see how the top Montana – and Frontier – teams fared.
Players of the Week
Attacker of the Week: Martyna Fiedler, Providence
Fiedler had a career-high 15 kills (5.0 kills per set) while hitting .400 in the Argo’s 3-0 sweep over No. 5 Bellevue. She also had six digs and four blocks in the match. Fielder then had 10 kills (3.3 kills per set) and two blocks in Providence’s 3-0 victory over Dakota State.
Fiedler collected 25 kills and averaged 4.17 kills per set for the week and hit near .300 for the weekend.
This is Fiedler’s first career Erck Hotels/Frontier Conference Player of the Week award.
Setter of the Week: Bella Thompson, Providence
Thompson averaged 12.67 set assists (38 assists) and 4.0 digs (12 digs) per set in Providence’s 3-0 sweep over Bellevue. In the Argos’ 3-0 win over Dakota State, she had 35 assists (11.67 set assists per set), eight digs (2.67 digs per set), and seven blocks (2.33 blocks per set).
For the week, Thompson racked up 73 set assists (12.17 set assists per set), 20 digs (3.33 digs per set) and nine blocks (1.5 blocks per set).
This is her 15th career Erck Hotels/Frontier Conference Player of the Week award.
Defender of the Week: Cabry Taylor, Providence
In the Argos’ win over Bellevue, Taylor had six blocks (2.0 blocks per set) and then had five blocks (1.67 blocks per set) in a win against Dakota State.
Taylor had 11 blocks for the weekend. This is her second career Erck Hotels/Frontier Conference Player of the Week award.
Frontier standings and upcoming matches
1. Providence (16-1, 0-0 Frontier)
Next up: Oct. 3 @ Montana Tech, 6 p.m.
2. Bellevue (11-3, 7-2 Frontier)
Next up: Oct. 2 vs. Valley City State, 5 p.m.
3. Montana Tech (10-5, 6-3 Frontier)
Next up: Oct. 3 vs. Providence, 6 p.m.
4. Carroll (11-6, 6-3 Frontier)
Next up: Oct. 3 @ Bismarck State, 5 p.m.
5. MSU-Northern (8-7, 6-3 Frontier)
Next up: Oct. 3 @ Montana Western, 7 p.m.
6. Dakota State (9-5, 5-4 Frontier)
Next up: Oct. 2 vs. Mayville State, 5 p.m.
7. Montana Western (7-9, 5-4 Frontier)
Next up: Oct. 3 vs. MSU-Northern, 7 p.m.
8. Valley City State (6-8, 4-5 Frontier)
Next up: Oct. 2 @ Bellevue, 5 p.m.
9. Dickinson State (7-7, 3-6 Frontier)
Next up: Oct. 3 vs. Rocky, 6 p.m.
10. Mayville State (5-9, 3-6 Frontier)
Next up: Oct. 3 @ Bellevue, 5 p.m.
11. Bismarck State (2-11, 0-9 Frontier)
Next up: Oct. 3 vs. Carroll, 5 p.m.
12. Rocky Mountain (0-13, 0-9 Frontier)
Next up: Oct. 3 @ Dickinson State, 6 p.m.
Bria Manning is the sports editor of The Montana Standard. Follow her on X at @briaamanning or contact her at bria.manning@406mtsports.com
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