GREAT FALLS — The University of Providence Argos volleyball team has had a hot start.
With their four wins in the Big Sky Challenge two weekends ago, including wins over two Top 10 teams in No. 8 Grandview and No. 6 Southern Oregon, UP earned a No. 10 national ranking. With their star-studded cast of veterans like fellow all-Americans Sacha Legros and Cydney Finberg-Roberts, along with newcomers Zoe Naugle and Jenna Thorne, middle blocker Sadie Lott returns for her second year with the Argos after an amazing freshman campaign where she’ll look to help lead the talented bunch this season.
“The one area that I’ve grown the most is trying to be one of the younger [lower]classmen to step up and be a leader,” Lott said in a press conference.
Lott’s freshman season was one for the books. Her long list of accolades included six Frontier Conference Attacker of the Week awards, Frontier Conference Freshman of the Year and 1st Team all-Conference. She was also named the AVCA Northwest Region Freshman of the Year and named to AVCA all-Northwest Region Team. Lastly, she was an Honorable Mention all-American in NAIA alongside Legros.
With the laundry list of awards however, there is no complacency that accompanies the recognition. To put it simply, Lott is a gym rat and her daily work shows it.
“Yeah she’s the kind of kid who just gets better everyday, every practice,” head coach Arunas Duda said. “It’s great when your all-American is the one setting the bar with the work ethic and how hard to train, how hard to do things so in our gym, she’s excellent everyday.”
With the team having excelled in their first four games in Butte, the team is trending upwards with Lott backing up her first year with an impressive start that could rival and outdo her first season with the Argos.
“It was great to see, we have an all-American on the team that played like an all-American every single point so that was awesome,” Duda mentioned.
“I was so excited to play. I was just so excited to get back on the court and I was like wow, it feels like I just got done playing so I was super excited to play again,” Lott added.
The Argos continue their tough schedule in Omaha, Nebraska this weekend where they will have four tough games, ending with the new No. 6 Concordia (Nebraska).
