DURANGO, Colo. — The Fort Lewis College volleyball team took a significant step forward in 2018. With Tricia Melfy at the helm in her first season as head coach, the Skyhawks finished eighth in the RMAC standings, posting a 9-9 conference record, and earned the program's first trip to the RMAC Tournament since 2013.

Fort Lewis will now look to build off that success with help from a bunch of new faces as the team added 12 players in the offseason, joining a core of five returners in seniors Bailey Longacre and Ohiyah Shirley, junior Audrey Stansberry, and sophomores Jacalyn Sharko and Tye Wedhorn.

"We've come a long way and, although we only have five true returners, they are five returners who are excited about where this program is now," Melfy said. "Our culture is based around team-driven coaching and team-driven relevance. What it takes to be a champion in sports is what it takes to be a champion in life and I'll never lose sight of that philosophy. We have to be humble, selfless, win and lose with grace, and the players have been all-in with that message. The returners have bought into that. And when I recruited, I brought in girls who also believe in our culture and philosophy."

The Skyhawks, picked No. 8 in the RMAC coaches' preseason poll, get their regular season underway Sept. 6-7 with four matches at the Kathleen Brasfield ASU Invitational. FLC then goes on the road to face the University of Texas-Permian Basin on Sept. 8 before returning to Durango for its home opener against Western New Mexico University at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12.

Fort Lewis is expected to be led again by the middle blocker duo of Longacre and Wedhorn, who ranked second and third on the team last season in kills, respectively.

Longacre set a career-high in 2018 with 224 kills, giving her 603 career kills heading into her senior season.

Wedhorn finished with 160 kills during her breakout freshman season, while also ranking fifth in the RMAC in hitting percentage (.356) and ninth in total blocks (62) en route to earning Second-Team All-Conference honors.

"The biggest piece I'm seeing in her improvement is she's not just a one-set player anymore in the middle where you have to do so many things," Melfy said of Wedhorn. "The next step in becoming a First-Team All-Conference player, or a potential All-American in her next couple years, we had to teach her how to run these other players and when to run them."

FLC also added some reinforcements at the middle blocker position in the offseason with junior Courtney Laliberte, a transfer from Glendale Community College, and freshmen Avynn La Rose and Rylee Johnson. All three are expected to challenge for court time.

At the setter position, the Skyhawks were tasked with replacing Kendra Swackenberg, who graduated in 2018 with the fifth most career assists (2,184) in program history. She now joins Melfy on the bench this season as the Assistant Volleyball Coach.

Taking the reigns will be redshirt freshman Courtney Bayles, a Bayfield native and transfer from Adams State, and true freshman Payton Harmann from Peoria, Arizona. Each of whom are expected to see time for the Skyhawks at a position Melfy deemed critical for a team to be competitive inside the RMAC.

"The team that has the best setter in this conference has the best chance to win it," Melfy stated. "I'm very confident the setters we have are going to help us be a force in the RMAC."

In the back row, Fort Lewis College has a handful of players battling for the libero and defensive specialist positions.

Freshman Joviana Romero out of Pueblo, originally listed as an outside hitter, has impressed at the libero position thus far in practice. She will challenge for playing time alongside three fellow freshmen in Haley Fonceca, Alexa Alameddin and Kamryn Lopez.

"I'm very defensive minded and we'll run something different than other schools," Melfy said. "When we get our defensive system down, it'll be a defense where we'll really be focused on digs and ball control. We'll end up having more digs per set than your typical defense, run our middles a little more effectively, and connect better with our setters."

While there will be plenty of new players at every position for the Skyhawks in 2019, the big emphasis for Melfy in the offseason was bringing in a wide range of outside hitters to join Shirley and Sharko.

FLC signed three junior college transfers — Alexa Treguboff, Liza Doppler and Chandler Karr – that are expected to contribute immediately.

Treguboff spent the last two seasons with Glendale Community College, where she compiled 323 career kills and 244 digs.

Doppler, a junior from Bismarck State College, was a two-time Mon-Dak Conference Most Valuable Player and posted 694 career kills.

As for Karr, she comes to Durango after two dominating years at Neosho County Community College, highlighted by a sophomore season that saw her finish with 478 kills and 98 total blocks.

"We knew bringing in those outside hitters as juniors, giving us some players with experience and who are leaders, was going to help us," Melfy said.

Melfy added that this year's crop of outside hitters will be relied on heavily in 2019 to help shoulder the scoring load that had previously fallen on the middle blocker position.

"Our outside hitters have to be more dominant this year. Last year, our middles were dominant. But as soon as we were out of system, we struggled on the outside to meet the goals that we had," Melfy said. "To win more matches, we'll need our outside hitters to be more prevalent, more physical and a little more reliable this season."

Defending home court will be another crucial piece to the puzzle for Fort Lewis in 2019 as the team has 13 home matches on the schedule, including a six-team home tournament set for Sept. 12-14.

The Skyhawks finished 7-2 inside the friendly confines of Whalen Gymnasium last season. They'll look to keep that trend going in 2019 against a tough home schedule that features five teams — Colorado School of Mines, Dixie State, Regis University, Colorado Christian and University of Colorado-Colorado Springs — that finished in the top half of the RMAC standings a season ago.

"I think it can be a bonus for us," said Melfy, referring to the loaded home schedule. "We'll have home court, they'll be the ones on the road, and I think we play a little better at home. I think we'll be able to squeak out some wins that maybe other people think we wouldn't be able to get."

But before diving into the RMAC season, Fort Lewis is focused on a challenging non-conference schedule that begins Friday, Sept. 6 with matches against Southeastern Oklahoma State University (4 p.m.) and Northwestern Oklahoma State University (8 p.m.). In total, the Skyhawks play nine non-conference matches before getting the RMAC season underway Friday, Sept. 20 on the road against Metropolitan State University of Denver.

All nine matched will be important as player roles become defined and the team takes aim at its goal of being a force to reckon with inside the RMAC.

"The expectation now is that we make the RMAC Tournament every year," Melfy said. "The goal this year is to host a first-round match in the tournament, meaning we need to finish in the top-4. And then winning the RMAC championship and getting to the national tournament to see what we can do within the next couple years is our ultimate goal. That's the progression for us. The team knows that. They are training for that."