BUTTE — At the conclusion of the 2023 volleyball season, then Montana Tech senior outside hitter Alexis Umland was on the fence deciding whether she wanted to take advantage of her additional covid season and return as a fifth-year grad student like Maureen Jessop and McKenna Kaelber had done that season.
"I kind of had to think about it," said Umland, a Missoula Sentinel product. "But at the end of the day I was like, 'I don't want to regret not coming back,' and I'm really glad I did.
"Obviously we lost a lot of key players, but I think we've always had a really deep roster and a lot of people that are willing to step up."
She decided to lead by example by choosing to return to the team for a final season. And during her time at Tech, the Orediggers have enjoyed a lot of sustained success, including being ranked at No. 21 in this year's preseason top 25 coaches' poll which extended Tech's streak of being a ranked team to 22 straight polls.
That run dates back to the 2021 season, but Tech head coach Brian Solomon — now in his 13th season guiding the Orediggers — credited Tech evolving into a perennial top 25 program to the foundation set by players years ago. He specifically referenced his 2016 team, which advanced to the national tournament.
"As the program graduates players and we get new ones in, they're picking up and running with the success that we had, like in 2016," said Solomon. "That was hard-fought success. It's given us an opportunity to know what it was to become successful and the amount of work that it took to be there."
And 2023 was another memorable season as Tech emerged as the Frontier Conference regular-season champion for the second straight year, qualified for the national tournament as an at-large bid, and then advanced to the final site in Sioux City, Iowa, a year after falling in the opening round.
But then Tech failed to make it out of pool play, with the Orediggers last advancing to the Round of 16 during the 2017 season.
For Umland and Tech's other four graduating players, they'll head into this season knowing that they have one final chance to end that drought. They're off to a promising start after going 3-0 at last weekend's Big Sky Volleyball Challenge which Tech hosted.
"It's my last year, I have nothing to lose so I'm just putting it all out on the court," said senior middle blocker Olivia LaBeau. "Being a good team leader and just doing the best that we can. We have some good goals to go off of. And we're hoping to accomplish them."
Said Umland: "One game at a time. One practice at a time. Focusing on what we need to get done. And just putting in work. We know that if we work hard at everything we do, the rest of it will just come with it."
The Orediggers will travel to the Bellevue University Tournament in Nebraska this weekend and will then compete at the SAGU Tournament in Waxachie, Texas, the weekend after. Tech opens conference play at home against Rocky Mountain College on Sept. 13.
