The College of the Rockies Men's Avalanche volleyball team will take on Lethbridge College, Medicine Hat College and Castlegar's Selkirk College in an exhibition tournament this weekend.

The round-robin tournament starts at 5pm Friday, Oct. 3rd in the COTR Gym with the second match going at 6:45 pm. Saturday's games are scheduled for 9 am, 11:15 am, 1 pm and 2:45 pm.

New Avalanche Head Coach Ian Halliday urges students and the community to come out and watch some excellent collegiate-level volleyball. "The guys have been training hard for the past three weeks, "Halliday said, "this tournament will be a warm-up before the regular inter-collegiate league which start on October 25 at Selkirk College. Our home opener is Friday, November 7."

Admission to the tournament is free.

Halliday expects the two Alberta teams to be strong and the team from Selkirk should be improved after a year in the BC league.

"We'll rely on our third year players Mike Clark and Eric Wiehler for leadership," Halliday said. Clark is in his third year playing for the Avalanche, while Wiehler came over to the Avalanche from the Alberta college league.

"We added two first year guys out of Calgary, Brandon Hewwing and Joel Carston, and I expect both players to contribute right away." When asked about the expectations for the season, Halliday replied, "We have a lot of new faces. We need to be patient as we get used to each other.

I expect us to improve throughout the season and be competitive when it comes times for provincials. We are looking to make a push for a berth at nationals."

Veteran Mike Clark shared his coach's confidence in the team, "We'll be good. We have lots of potential. We'll be on the small side but we'll be strong at serving, passing and defense. We'll look to frustrate opponents by digging everything."