Bellevue, Providence lead Frontier Conference preseason volleyball poll

HELENA — Bellevue (Neb.) was tabbed as the favorite to win the 2025 Frontier Conference volleyball title in the coaches’ preseason poll, which was announced Monday by the conference office.

Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams. The Frontier Conference expanded to 12 full-time institutions this year, which includes the six Montana schools (Carroll, MSU-Northern, Montana Tech, Montana Western, Providence and Rocky Mountain) and five newcomers from the former North Star Athletic Association (including Bellevue, Dakota State, Dickinson State, Mayville State and Valley City State). Bismarck State entered its first-year membership with the NAIA this season and also joined the Frontier Conference.

First-place votes in the poll were worth 11 points, second place was worth 10 points, third place was worth nine and so on to the last place with one point.

The Bruins finished their 2024 season with an overall record of 32-5, highlighted by their historic run to their first-ever NAIA national championship match. Bellevue fell to Indiana Wesleyan in a five-set thriller, earning a national runner-up honor.

Bellevue tallied 10 first-place votes and collected 120 points to claim the top spot in the Frontier coaches’ preseason poll.

Providence, which swept both the Frontier Conference regular-season and postseason titles in 2024, picked up the final two first-place votes and earned 110 points to finish second in the poll. Montana Tech came in third with 96 points, edging Montana Western by three points (93 points). The Bulldogs highlighted their 2024 season with a historic victory over nationally No. 1-ranked Northwestern (Iowa) in the NAIA tournament’s pool play before falling to Corban (Ore.) in the quarterfinals.

Dakota State tallied 74 points to finish fifth in the Frontier Conference preseason poll.

The top five teams in the 2025 preseason poll qualified for the NAIA national tournament last season. Bellevue, Providence, Tech and Western each advanced to the national tournament’s final site in Sioux City, Iowa, while Dakota State competed in the opening round.

Carroll placed sixth in the preseason poll with 70 points, followed by Valley City State in seventh with 68 points. Rocky Mountain earned 45 points to finish eighth and MSU-Northern ninth with 43 points.

Dickinson State recorded 27 points to place 10th in the league’s preseason poll, followed by Mayville State in 11th with 24 points and Bismarck State in 12th with 22 points.

The 2025 season officially kicks off on Friday and Saturday with two Frontier Conference teams playing in a preseason tournament. Western travels to West Palm Beach, Fla., for the Keiser Tournament, while MSU-Northern plays in the Lewis-Clark State tournament in Idaho. Valley City State and Dickinson State also open their seasons on Saturday. Each team faces Dakota Wesleyan in Valley City, N.D.

Each Frontier Conference school will play a total of 22 conference matches on its 2025 schedule, playing home-and-away contests. They are scheduled to play 11 home league matches and 11 road conference matches. The first conference matchups are set for the first week of September.

The top eight teams in the Frontier Conference standings will advance to the postseason tournament, hosted by Carroll at the P.E. Center in Helena. The three-day conference tournament will begin with the quarterfinals on Thursday, Nov. 13, followed by the semifinals on Nov. 14 and the championship match on Nov. 15.

The Frontier will have two automatic bids for the NAIA women’s volleyball national tournament, which begins Nov. 22 with the opening round. The opening-round winners advance to the final site at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, on Dec. 3-9.

Below is the complete 2025 Frontier Conference volleyball coaches’ preseason poll.