TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (September 13, 2018) - The Salt Lake Community College volleyball program has done just about everything according to script in the 2018 season, picking up a 13-0 record through three weekends of play.

In response to their strong start, the Bruins have earned a great deal of interest from voters in the NJCAA poll, with Salt Lake coming in at No. 4 in the latest rankings. The rankings are SLCC's highest in the last several seasons. The positivity comes ahead of the final preseason tournament for the Bruins, with Salt Lake traveling to play in a tournament hosted by the College of Southern Nevada.

Bruins coach Sue Dulaney said her program is in a great place ahead of the final preseason rankings.

"This is the best start this program has experienced since 2007," she said. "The past three weekends, we have been able to give numerous players opportunities, which has strengthened our team chemistry and given our coaching staff an eye to see who can come off the bench, who is a solid starter, who can just come in and give us a block when we need it and so on."

Salt Lake will need several players to come in with solid contributions this weekend, with the Bruins playing two nationally-ranked teams and another team receiving votes in the national poll. SLCC will open the tourney with Yavapai College at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, with the Roughriders receiving votes in national polls. Salt Lake will have a Friday night matchup with No. 10 Seward County Community College, who has started the season at 5-2. 

Saturday's matches will see SLCC play No. 11 Western Nebraska for the second time in the preseason, after the Bruins defeated them 3-0 in Taylorsville two weeks ago. The tournament closes with a 3:00 p.m. match against Arizona Western Community College.

Other teams in the Scenic West Athletic Conference that are receiving votes in the national polls are Southern Idaho, which sits at No. 3 in front of Salt Lake, and No. 6 Snow College. Salt Lake has its first match against Snow on Sept. 28 at home, with a home match against Southern Idaho scheduled for October 5.

Dulaney said her program still has a great deal of room to grow.

"I like what I see as we have versatility and are efficient," she said. "Do we still have things to work on? Yes, we do. Winning is great but we cannot let the wins lull us into a sense of comfort; we must keep pushing and working on our transition offense and serving.  Our goal is to win the SWAC conference and bring the Region 18 tourney back to Salt Lake."