The College of the Rockies gymnasium will be chock-full of volleyball action over the weekend, as teams from Alberta and the B.C. Interior converge on Cranbrook for the annual Rumble in the Rockies tournament.
This will be the second weekend in a row of exhibition action for the women's team, which recently returned from a tournament in Red Deer, while the men's team will see some games on the court for the first time this preseason.
The event will include two CIS teams on the mens side, with the University of Calgary Dinos featuring two former Avalanche players in Jeremias Guenter and Brendan Visser, who will line up against their old squad.
"They're excited to play, it's been going pretty slow and just making sure we have a foundation of basic skills and all that and making sure everyone is doing things correctly," said men's head coach Steve Kamps. "We've slowly built up towards getting six guys on the floor and now we have a chance for some exhibition."
Similarly on the women's side, head coach Agata Bendkowska is looking forward to seeing her girls get some more game-time experience as her team includes quite a few new faces on the roster this year.
She had the team practicing as early as the middle of August to prepare for the new Pacwest season before their first exhibition play in Red Deer last weekend.
"Now I know what we need to work on," Bendkowska said. "We have 14 girls this year and it's a different team from last year. We have some height this year, we have three different setters, we have girls who can play a bunch of different positions."
Both teams have finalized their rosters; the men's team features a player from Cranbrook and Creston, while the girls team features three Mount Baker Secondary School graduates.
Avalanche Schedule:
Thursday, Sept. 27
6 p.m. - Augustana vs. COTR (women)
Friday, Sept. 28
9 a.m. - COTR vs. Lethbridge (women)
12 p.m. - UC vs. COTR (men)
2 p.m. - COTR vs. Kings (women)
8 p.m. - COTR vs. RDC (men)
Saturday, Sept. 29
10 a.m. - TRU vs. COTR (men)
6 p.m. - COTR vs. Kings (women)
8 p.m. - RDC vs. COTR (men)