Volleyball and football practice gets under way for area schools this morning, and the anticipation is only rivaled by the uncertainty.

There are high expectations for some area programs, but there are also plenty of questions about just what and who will be worth watching this season. Obviously, there are some perennial contenders that will be right back in the thick of things - the Rapid City Stevens volleyball team in the Greater Dakota Conference and the St. Thomas More football team in the Black Hills Conference come to mind - but even those two teams will face some tests before their first games.

The Raiders, led by third-year coach Josh Lien, were already preparing to face the season without 2008 all-state selection Kelly Herrmann and three other seniors off of last year's Class AA third-place team, but they will now also have to overcome the early-season absence of all-conference performer Justine Blade, who will miss at least the first four weeks of the season after undergoing ankle surgery.

"I'm going to have to really earn my money this year," Lien said, only half-jokingly. That is a sentiment many area coaches are probably echoing right now.

The Raiders' cross-town rival, Rapid City Central and second-year head coach Shelly Wolfe, will be replacing a couple of standouts of its own as all-stater Caitlin Templeton (Creighton) and Courtney Carmichael (Northern State) are both off playing college volleyball.

Class B's returning state champion Philip Scotties will have to replace the core - Sierra Hook, Taylor Holman and Marissa Mann - of their team from last season.

The St. Thomas More football team returns all-state wide receiver Parker Sullivan, along with quarterback Jared Jacobson and all-state kicker Kevin Robb, and will be looking to win the Black Hills Conference title after losing it to Belle Fourche for the first time since 2003. The Cavaliers went 7-4 in 2008, losing to Winner 49-17 in the Class 11A semifinals. The Warriors move down to Class 11B this season.

Belle Fourche, 9-1 last year and the BHC champs, lost all-everything quarterback-safety Alex Kling to graduation but return arguably the best running back in western South Dakota in Francois Barnaud.

There is also some good talent returning on the Class 11AA level, as 2008 all-Greater Dakota Conference selections from Rapid City Central, Stevens, Sturgis and Spearfish return. The Cobblers, in head coach Trent Pikula's third season, return the aerial connection of quarterback Will Mechling and wide receiver Dimitri Fahey; the Raiders, under second-year head coach Paul Ferdinand, return running back Kolton Emery; the Scoopers return junior linebacker-running back Clint Wilson and the Spartans return wide receiver-cornerback Gavin Cordell in the first year of new head coach Todd Lambrecht's regime.