Another year for head coach Jim Boos and the UMD volleyball team is on the horizon, as the Bulldogs were selected to finish 5th in the NSIC. However, according to Boos’ beliefs, preseason rankings aren’t a promise for any team.

“As we all know, preseason polls mean nothing,” said Boos. “We’ll all go into the season zero and zero, and we’re going to have to prove it on the court. So it really doesn’t serve as anything other than an indicator that we got work to do and we know our league is good. There’s teams above us that we know are going to be really challenging. There’s teams below us that we know are going to be really challenging. And that’s what makes it the same old league.”

One area of emphasis that the Bulldogs have for this upcoming season is practices, and making sure they know their identity, so that they can bring it on the court with them.

“You play how you practice so if we’re not giving it our all during practice, we’re not going to be able to give it all we have during the game, so being able to push each other in practice, but to a certain extent obviously,” said Cianna Selbitschka, a graduate student.

“You’re only at 80% that day and you’re not feeling great, but coming to practice and giving every 80% that you can is what we’re really looking for, just setting that as a standard for the whole program so everywhere everyone’s working that hard and all pushing each other to get better. It’s really going to help us stay consistent and take that extra step,” added Samantha Paulsen, a senior.

The Bulldogs first taste of action comes down south, at the Texas A&M Kingsville National, where UMD will take on four different schools, all starting on September 6th. Their full schedule can be found here.