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RECORDS: Minot State begins its 2014 season at the Montana State University-Billings Invitational. They finished the 2013 season with a 12-18 overall record and a 7-13 record in the NSIC. Black Hills State, Chadron State, Montana State-Billings and the University of Mary will begin their seasons at the MSU-Billings Invitational as well.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's Travis Ward is in his fourth season as the head coach of the Beaver volleyball program. Ward has a career record of 36-58 during his tenure at Minot State. In 2013, Ward led the Beavers to 12 overall wins, doubling their win total from 2012 which was the team's first year in the NSIC. Black Hills State enters a new era with Kristin Carmichael taking over the volleyball program in June 2014. Carmichael has strong ties to the Black Hills program as she was a three-time NAIA All-American for the Yellow Jackets and continued to coach at the school upon graduating in 2010. Chadron State begins a new era as well in 2014 as Chris Wells took over the volleyball program as the interim head coach in late-July. Wells previously served as an associate head coach at New Mexico Highlands and he has over 28 years of playing and coaching experience. Lisa Axel returns for her third year leading Montana State-Billings as the head coach. In her first two years with the program, Axel compiled an 18-35 record. The University of Mary continued the trend of new hires this offseason as they brought in Melissa Chaplin to provide new direction for their program. Chaplin has 18 years of coaching experience and four years of NCAA Division I playing experience.

RANKINGS: Minot State and their four opponents did not appear or receive any votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association preseason poll released on August 18, 2014.

2013 AT A GLIMPSE: Minot State ended the 2013 season with an overall record of 12-18 and a conference record of 7-13 in the highly competitive Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Beavers headed into November and the final six games of their season with a 6-8 record in the NSIC, hoping to make a strong final push in the conference. The Beavers ended October with wins against Minnesota State and Mayville State. After winning their first game in November, the Beavers finished the 2014 season with five straight losses in the league. While the 2013 season ended in disappointing fashion, the Beavers doubled their win total from 2012.

NOTING THE YELLOW JACKETS: Black Hills State scuffled in the 2013 season finishing their season with an 8-21 record. The program won 11 games the previous year, but the Yellow Jackets hope new head coach Kristin Carmichael can turn things around in Spearfish, S.D. The 2014 team is relatively young with only two seniors and two juniors on the team, so they'll look to build a strong foundation this year for the future.

NOTING THE EAGLES: Chadron State returns four starters to the program even after an offseason that included the late resignation of previous head coach Janel Baily. Chris Wells took over the program in late-July and was able to keep the commitments of four incoming freshmen and three transfers who were recruited by Baily. The Eagles won 3 games in the RMAC last season, the most wins for the program since 2009. The Eagles hope a new face and more experience will continue to propel the program in the right direction.

NOTING THE YELLOW JACKETS: 2014 marks the 35th season for MSU-Billings volleyball, and with six returning starters they're looking for it to be a successful one. The team finished 8th last season in the GNAC with an overall record of 7-20 and a conference record of 4-14. Four incoming freshmen will replace the four graduating seniors from a year ago.

NOTING THE MARAUDERS: The University of Mary's volleyball program is getting a fresh start in 2014 with new head coach Melissa Chaplin at the helm. Chaplin brought in 10 new players to the volleyball program while only returning nine. The Marauders finished with a 1-19 record in the NSIC last season. This year, five teams from the NSIC begin the season ranked in the preseason coaches' poll top 25.

DUNKLE DIGS DEEP: Sophomore Lauren Dunkle (OH, Aurora, Colo.) saved her best performance of her freshman season for the final match of the season in Minot State's loss to Wayne State. She recorded a season-high 19 digs for the Beavers while also recording a season-high 17 kills. Dunkle will look to carry that momentum into the 2014 season.

ONE LAST GO AROUND: Jen Dixon's (Sr., OH, Brandon, Manitoba) All-American softball career may be over, but she'll look to make one more lasting impression on the campus of Minot State on the volleyball court. A second-team All-NSIC selection in 2013, Dixon led the team in kills (387), digs (361) and services aces (38).

SALL-EBRATE GOOD TIMES: Mallory Sall (Jr., OH, Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) more than avoided the stereotypical sophomore slump in 2013 as she finished second on the team in kills/set (3.24) behind Jen Dixon. She scored the second-most points for the Beavers as well bringing in 364.

BY THE NUMBERS
198: Minot State's Jen Dixon (Jr., OH, Brandon, Manitoba) needs 198 more kills before she becomes the Beavers' all-time leader in kills. With Dixon's current pace, she should break the record of 1,442 held by Lisa Webb by mid-season.

3: Three of the programs appearing at the Montana State-Billings Invitational will showcase first-year head coaches in 2014. Minot State's Travis Ward is the longest tenured head coach at the invite, serving as the Beavers head coach since the beginning of the 2011 season.

1,576: The four visiting programs participating in the MSU-Billings Invitational traveled an estimated 1,576 miles to get to Billings, Mont. Chadron State logged the most miles totaling 445, while Minot State traveled 440 miles.