RAPID CITY-It's a new year and a different look for the Rapid City Stevens girls volleyball team, but the Raiders are hoping to maintain something from last year, the feeling they had after winning the state Class AA title.

"It is a new team, but we don't want to put it (championship) in a box and forget about it," said Raider head coach Josh Lien.

This team wants to emulate the Raider girls' track team, which has won a record 13 straight Class AA state titles.

"Just like the track team, tradition doesn't graduate. We want to build a program where we're top four year after year," Lien said.

The Raiders won the 2007 title after failing to advance beyond the first round of the state tournament the previous four years.

The Raiders march to the championship last November included three wins over progressively higher-seeded opponents.

Stevens defeated third-seed and Greater Dakota Conference champion Sioux Falls Lincoln in the first round, then knocked off No. 2-seed and defending AA champion Sioux Falls Roosevelt in the semifinals.

The Raiders then stopped undefeated Pierre in a five-set thriller.

Eight seniors, with years of experience playing together, led Stevens to the title, including Paige Osterloo, Cassie Brinker, Whitney Lutz, Brooke Warne, Amy Sykora, Courtney Nordine, Sarah Dedik and Kayla Huether.

This year's roster has four seniors, four juniors and two freshmen.

"It's a whole different style of play. Last year we were small and quick. This year we're bigger and stronger," Lien said.

"I have to figure out what our strengths are and not assume, just because we did it last year that we can do it this year," he added.

Senior Kelly Herrmann is the only returning starter for the Raiders, but Lien said other experienced players are stepping up and out of the shadows.

Herrmann had seven kills, and junior Justine Blade added eight blocks in a win over Laramie, Wyo., at last weekend's Gillette Invitational.

Senior Sarah Jundt added nine kills, Blade had eight blocks and senior libero Nikki Gleich had 13 digs to lead the Raiders over cross-town rival Rapid City Central for the Invite's Silver Bracket championship.

"Kelly Herrmann's a good leader for us, because she's been there and done that," Lien said. "She's not trying to do this by herself. She letting her teammates step up and help carry the team.

"Nikki Gliech, Justine Blade and Sarah Jundt are great players, but they've been hidden behind all those seniors. They're just now getting their chance to shine," Lien said.

"It's a completely different team dynamic," said Herrmann, who has verbally committed to play D-I college volleyball at South Dakota State University next year. "We have different strengths and different weaknesses."

Gleich said she still looks up to the group that led the team last year.

"I still look up to those girls if I'm in a tough situation, and ask what would those seniors do," she said.

The Raiders are off to a 9-1 start, including a five-set win over Watertown. Their only setback was to Casper (Wyo.) Natrona last Friday.

"Nine and one is a heck of start, but I don't think we've been pushed until we go back east and play the Sioux Falls schools this Friday and Saturday," Lien said.

"It'll be a good test for us to see where we are. We'll have to grow up quick," he said.

"We're remembering what it took to get there. That's the value of having that championship," he said.

Herrmann, however, wants to keep the Raiders defending champion status in perspective.

"It's in the past, it's exciting and it's something that I'm proud of, but it doesn't necessarily mean anything this year," said Herrmann.

"We're a different team and we're out to prove ourselves," she said.