VERMILLION, S.D. – Now that all the hours in the gym during the hot summer days and the two-a-day practices during preseason camp are done and over with, it's time to get down to business for the South Dakota volleyball team.
 
This year's journey begins in Indianapolis, Indiana, where three matches in 24 hours kick off the 12-week regular season before the Summit League Tournament, once again played in Denver.
 
In order for the Coyotes to walk out of Denver the same way they did a year ago, as conference champs, is to follow a simple mantra of one match at a time.
 
Reaching the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament as a Division I program was great, but sixth-year head coach Leanne Williamson wants this year's team to focus on this year, something she says the team has accomplished since beginning spring drills in January.
 
"As much as I know people love looking back at the NCAAs last year, it's really something that we've been done talking about since December," said Williamson. "Come January, when we started with our team again in the spring, we talked about that being our prep for the fall and all of the work they put in showed that they whole-heartedly believed in that too. Even though they enjoyed the experience (of the NCAA berth), we're really focused on what we accomplish this year with this team."
 
The Coyotes bring back eight letterwinners from a year ago led by seniors Anne Rasmussen, Elizabeth Loschen and Mehana Fonseca, three of the four players returning that played in all 111 sets a year ago. Starting setter Madison Jurgens, now in her second year as a starter and third year in the program, is the other.  
 
Eight newcomers on the roster - five freshmen and three transfers - are all hungry to play and contribute, making offseason workouts and preseason camp very competitive.
 
When the team hits the floor on Friday against former Summit League rival IUPUI, the simple theory of one point at a time, one set at a time, one match at a time will be the focus of this year's South Dakota squad.
 
"Really for us, the thing that has changed maybe a little bit, is just that we want that (NCAA) to be an expectation for us every year," said Williamson. "We know that in order to get to that point that we've got to take it one match at a time.
 
"As coaches, we make sure that we are doing it that way, that we're not looking ahead, that we continue to make sure we keep focusing on what is right in front of us. Not look at the future or what's in the past. That's going to be really important for this team because I know they have things that they want to accomplish. You can't accomplish it if you're not taking care of it from the first match. We will continue to practice what we preach."
 
OFFENSE
 
While three of the team's top four hitters graduated, there is no shortage of depth in the front row as this year's team is more physical and longer than team's in the past have been. Loschen enters her final season just 314 kills away from 1,000 after producing 247 and a 2.23 kill/set average last fall.
 
A trio of sophomores in Claire Gerdes, Jenna Wagemester and Emily Grathoff are a year stronger, a couple of transfers in Sami Slaughter and Maddie Wiedenfeld along with four freshmen (Aimee Adams, Elizabeth Junke, Madison Harms and Ally Grothusen) give the offensive attack plenty of depth this season.
 
"Going into preseason camp we really felt that anyone could run away with that starting spot at some point," said Williamson. "Even after this first weekend and the exhibition match, and seeing the growth of some of our freshmen in the first couple weeks of the preseason and where our sophomores are one year later.
 
"I think this is going to be a year where we rely on different people and that makes us harder to defend, tougher to scout and makes us a hard team to beat because we constantly have somebody else who can come in and give us a spark."
 
Slaughter was a member of a NCAA title team in her two years at Nebraska while Wiedenfeld contributed heavily in her freshman season at New Hampshire and the duo hope to be part of the group that fills the void left by the graduation losses of Summit League Player of the Year Hayley Dotseth and Summit League Tournament MVP Taylor Wilson.
 
"For Maddie and Sami to come in in the spring was important for the team, but important for them too," said Williamson. "The confidence that comes with understanding who is playing next to you. They fit in extremely well because we have that trust already. They were able to be coached by us and understand what we're looking for.
 
"Preseason was more comfortable for them, not that you can ever feel 100 percent comfortable in the preseason, because it is hard and it is challenging. They have the people they need to next to them to rely on because of the relationships that they built. They were here in the summer, working out and playing whenever they were able to. Those things make a really big difference when you only have two and a half weeks to prepare for your first match."
 
Jurgens, who averaged 10.48 assists per set a year ago, used the offseason to get chemistry with all of the newcomers in the front row.
 
"Madison has done a lot of work in the offseason to really learn each individual player," said Williamson. "Last year it was working on her to make sure she was the best she could be at that moment. That next step is really being able to adjust per player knowing how each person needs the ball, especially in the middle and on the right side. That's been good for us to see her do."
 
Jurgens has had to compete against senior Pamela Zuluaga, a grad transfer from Arkansas Little Rock, who has pushed Madison during preseason camp.
 
"We have a transfer setter in Pam who has come in and done some good things and really challenged Madison as well," added Williamson. "That's been good to have that competition because they're competing against each other but they're also helping each other and that relationship has been good to see as well."
 
DEFENSE
 
Rasmussen, the Summit League Defensive Player of the Year, recorded 604 digs, third most in a single season in school history. She enters her final year just 627 away from the school career record. Fonseca contributed 212 digs and Weideman 167 in 92 sets during her true freshman season.
 
"We feel very comfortable with where our defense is at and we have really since the end of last season," Williamson said. "We knew we were going to have our core back. We felt that was going to be a major part of who we were as a team, something that I fully believe in."
 
Jurgens, a six-rotation player a year ago, recorded 281 digs while Wagemester and Juhnke spent time during the exhibition playing in the back row. The team also brought in freshman Brooklyn Bollweg.
 
Defense will continue to be a focus for the Coyotes, who ranked 18^th nationally and led the Summit League in digs per set a year ago at 18.15.
 
"Especially with how new we are, with the fact that we've got some different people in different positions that haven't been on the floor for us in the past, having a skill set that we can rely on is going to be important again." Williamson said. "We can still rely on our defense, but it might be for some different reasons. We know that we are going to dig the ball a lot with Anne, Mehana and Lolo all being back and playing big roles on the team last year. That gives us a really good starting point to rely on and the rest of our game comes together."