RAPID CITY - When Douglas volleyball coach Jeff Nugent sat down to complete his Rapid City Journal preseason survey sheet in August, he quickly found himself facing a dilemma.

One of the survey queries asked for his opinion as to which team would win the Black Hills Conference title.

"The sheet said that you couldn't pick your own team," Nugent said. "And most coaches, me included, wouldn't want to do that anyway. You hate to put pressure on your own team and make them a target for everybody to shoot at. But as I thought about who would be back for us this year, and about the balance and the senior leadership on this team, I really felt that we should do well in the conference and thought to myself, 'I think we can win this thing.'"

He didn't put it down, but he didn't stop believing.

Nugent's optimism centered around the senior leadership he would have on the Patriot squad. He said keeping a group of players together for four years at Douglas is sometimes difficult because of the military nature of the school. Transfers in and out because of parental changes in duty stations are a common occurrence.

"I've been at Douglas a long time, and often the team we have as freshman breaks up before senior year," said Nugent, in his eighth season as head coach. "We might only have three of those freshman girls coming back as seniors. This year's team had six seniors coming back who have learned our system. Usually we get about three, fill them in with sophomores and throw them in with the wolves."

Those six seniors - Jordan McCausland, Kayla Miller, Maranda Baragar, Chelsea Edward, Haley Wrigglesworth and Desiree Willar - weren't about to let themselves be fodder for wolves of any kind, or for that matter, Cavaliers, Broncs, Wildcats or Bison.

An opening match loss to Pierre, the state Class AA runners-up, did not dampen Nugent's conviction that the Patriots would become a formidable team to be reckoned with in the Black Hills Conference.

"I figured that we would struggle with Stevens and some of those teams, but we played well against Pierre - a four-set loss - and Mitchell, a game we thought we could have won. So, after we completed the AA portion of our schedule, I just wanted the team to focus on the task at hand, which was winning the BHC."

Apparently, Nugent and his assistants, Don Harris and Alyssa Blasczyk, did an excellent job of conveying that message as the Patriots (19-7 overall) enter the final week of the conference schedule with a 12-0 record.

"Our goal coming into our senior season was to win the BHC championship," says middle hitter Kelsey Schwartz. "We discussed that goal during our offseason workouts as our first goal of the season. We hope to accomplish that objective, and then push forward from there to state."

Setter Jordan McCausland shared that same optimism coming into the season.

Thrust into the setter position and the court-leadership role required of that position, McCausland likes that the Patriots do not have any one truly outstanding player. They have several unselfish role players who get along well.

"Our big strength is that we have lots of balance," McCausland said. "We all pass well, we all set and we all can hit when we need to. Whenever a player goes out, we always have replacements to step in."

Outside hitter Maranda Baragar emphasizes the team did more than simply set a goal - the players committed to the hard work necessary to make that goal a reality.

"Many of us have been together since middle school, and we knew that this could be our year if we worked hard to make it happen," Barager said. "We played a lot in the offseason and during the summer and did a lot of bonding stuff so that we could get to where we are now with a chance to win the conference championship."

Two games remain toward an undefeated season and a conference championship. Tonight, the Patriots travel to Lead to take on Lead-Deadwood. On Monday, the Pats will conclude the regular season with an all-important game against perennial BHC power Hot Springs, whose only conference loss was a five- setter to Douglas early in the season.

"These kids have done the work," says Nugent very passionately. "They did the camps in the summer, climbed Harney Peak together, and worked hard at practice every day to give themselves this opportunity. One thing I know for sure. They will be on time and ready to go."