Senior captain Ryan Dalzell has been a part of three successful seasons playing club volleyball for UW-Eau Claire and has hopes of another strong finish this year.

After placing second at nationals his freshman year and ninth the past two years, Dalzell knows what it takes to perform well and finish strong.

The team finished its regular season with a 31-15 record and third in the Northern Intercollegiate Volleyball Conference.

“We had a lot of new guys join the team this year,” Dalzell said. “We started off a little slow, but we had a turn-around after a couple tournaments and our team really came together.

“We’ve been playing really well lately.”

The team will need to bring its best game into this weekend’s NIVC tournament, which will be played at Winona St. University (Minn.).

Seventeen teams from Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Michigan and Iowa will compete at the tournament.

After the conference tournament, the volleyball team will travel to Kansas City, Mo., to play in nationals from April 12 to 14.

On March 9, NIRSA.org selected the club team as one of 64 teams to qualify for Division II nationals.

Dalzell said the team lost its setter from last year to graduation, but junior Pat Corran has done a great job helping out.

“(Pat) stepped in and took on the challenge,” Dalzell said. “He’s filled the shoes very well and has played a big role for us.”

The eight-man roster allows for a pretty even rotation of playing time. There will be three members graduating from this year’s team.

“This season has been successful for us,” Dalzell said.

He said the team started the season a little skeptical because it didn’t know how it stacked up against some of the other teams.

After a couple of first and second-place finishes in a few tournaments, Dalzell said the team started to gain some confidence.

“It’s a good time to be playing our best ball as we head into the conference tournament.”