DENVER – The Colorado Premier is here.
 
Division II's best in-season volleyball tournament returns to co-hosts MSU Denver and Regis starting Friday, and there's a doozy of a matchup set for Friday at 2 p.m., as sixth-ranked MSU Denver plays host to No. 1 West Texas A&M at the Auraria Event Center.
 
"It's going to be great volleyball again this weekend, and we hit the ground running with West Texas A&M," MSU Denver coach Jenny Glenn said. "I like the fact that we're playing them early in the season. The more great teams we play, the more we understand what it takes to play high-level volleyball."
 
MSU Denver then turns around to play a 6 p.m. match Friday against another high-level program in Lewis (Ill.), which is 28^th among teams receiving votes in the AVCA Division II Top 25 poll.
 
Saturday's schedule won't be determined until the conclusion of play Friday, but needless to say the Roadrunners will be facing two more high-quality opponents.
 
We know this because all 12 teams in the Premier are either nationally ranked or receiving votes.
 
Besides West Texas A&M, MSU Denver and Lewis, here's the rest of the field: No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.), No. 3 Wayne State (Neb.), No. 13 West Florida, No. 16 Cal State Los Angeles, No. 19 Regis, No. 22 Western Washington and the other three unranked teams that are receiving votes, Ferris State (Mich.), Texas-Tyler and Central Missouri.
 
Friday play is on two courts at both MSU Denver and Regis, with matches at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. The teams are grouped into four three-team pools, with the winner of each pool advancing to Saturday's four-team Gold Bracket, the second-place pool teams advancing to Saturday's four-team Silver Bracket, and the third-place teams in each pool playing in Saturday's four-team Bronze Bracket.
 
Matches Saturday at both MSU Denver and Regis are scheduled for 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. The Gold Bracket is scheduled to be played at Regis, with the Silver and Bronze Brackets at MSU Denver, though that could change depending upon the bracket status of MSU Denver and Regis.
 
When it's all said and done, a team could easily go 0-4 this weekend and could still consider itself a potential national-championship contender.
 
While MSU Denver is excited to once again play West Texas A&M, the team that has defeated the Roadrunners in the South Central Regional final in each of the past two seasons, both at the Auraria Event Center, the team is also keeping everything in perspective.
 
"It's great that they are our next match, so it's all eyes on them and we aren't looking past another opponent before playing them," Glenn said. "But after that we have to get ready for another match against a quality team. We have a pretty veteran group that understands the Premier, which means that we can't celebrate too much if we win, and we can't dwell on it too much if we lose.
 
"It's an important match, but it's not a defining match in either a positive or negative direction."
 
MSU Denver placed third at the Premier last season with a 3-0 sweep of West Texas A&M in the Gold Bracket consolation match that came after a loss to Concordia-St. Paul.
 
The matchup against West Texas A&M will be the Roadrunners' first against a No. 1 team since they knocked off Concordia-St. Paul in the 2021 Gold Bracket semifinals en route to winning the Premier title. The Roadrunners also won their previous meeting against a No. 1 team, beating Tampa (Fla.) at the 2019 Premier.
 
Interestingly, the 2021 Premier was the last time MSU Denver played an opponent with a higher national ranking, as three of the four teams it played that weekend were ranked higher. In fact, those three matches are the only ones in the last 83 matches dating to the 2020 season (played in the spring of 2021) that MSU Denver has played a higher-ranked opponent.
 
"It's the first time in a long time that we are the underdog," Glenn said. "That's a really fun thing, because we usually carry that burden."
 
MSU Denver opened this season ranked No. 3 but slid to sixth after going 3-1 at a tournament hosted by Cal State San Bernardino last weekend. MSU Denver beat two ranked teams and another one that has since moved into the rankings, while Cal State San Bernardino jumped from No. 19 to No. 9 after beating the Roadrunners in five sets in MSU Denver's second match of the day (it was Cal State San Bernardino's only match of the day).
 
"Last weekend was really good for us," Glenn said. "We played tough teams, and in a lot of ways it was a pre-Premier. They were all high-level volleyball and a lot of tactical matches that you don't always see right away to start the season. Our learning curve was quick for our young players and the veterans go right back into it.
 
"It takes a while to figure out your identity as a group and last week was great for that."