HELENA -- Montana Tech's volleyball team enters the 2026 season picked third in the Frontier Conference's preseason poll, the league office announced Monday.
The Orediggers received 97 points in the poll, which takes the coaches' league rankings from each of the conference's 12 programs. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams. First place is worth 11 points, second place is worth 10 points, third place is worth nine points, and so on to the last place with one point.
Defending Frontier champion Providence took the top spot in the poll with 118 points and nine first-place votes, while Bellevue earned 113 points and the other three top nods.
Dakota State wound up fourth, 10 points behind Montana Tech with 87 points, and Carroll rounded out the top five with 80 points.
Montana Tech finished the 2025 campaign with a 17-13 record and went 12-10 in Frontier Conference play, placing in a tie for fourth in the standings. Tech reached as high as
The Orediggers retain the services of four players who have earned all-conference honors in their careers. Junior right side hitter
Payton Treadwell was the league's newcomer of the year and a second-teamer in 2025, senior setter
Rhys Layton was a second-team pick in 2024 and the league's freshman of the year in 2023, and juniors
Brooklynn Hayes and
Austin Long were on the all-freshman team in 2024.
Montana Tech opens up the 2026 campaign this weekend at Olivet Nazarene's Tiger Kickoff Invite in Bourbonnais, Ill. The Orediggers take on the hosts Friday at 10 a.m. Mountain (11 Central) to start the season before playing Mount Marty and Spring Arbor in a Saturday double dip.
See below for the full 2026 Frontier Conference preseason volleyball poll.
| 2026 Frontier Conference Women's Volleyball Coaches' Preseason Poll |
| RANK |
SCHOOL |
POINTS
(FIRST PLACE VOTES) |
| 1 |
 |
118
(9) |
| 2 |
 |
113
(3) |
| 3 |
 |
97 |
| 4 |
 |
87 |
| 5 |
 |
80 |
| 6 |
 |
65 |
| 7 |
 |
63 |
| 8 |
 |
51 |
| 9 |
.png) |
49 |
| 10 |
.png) |
33 |
| 11 |
 |
20 |
| 12 |
 |
16 |
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