The Rockhurst Hawks open the 2013 volleyball season with high expectations. Head coach Tracy Rietzke enters his 26th season at Rockhurst with seven returning starters from last year's Great Lakes Valley Conference championship team.

"It's always good to return experience. We are pretty athletic. We've got solid kids back and some good newcomers. We need to jell and our team chemistry needs to be good," said Rietzke, who is the winningest active women's volleyball coach in NCAA Division II with 1,063 career victories.

The Hawks open the season on Friday with a pair of matches in the Pittsburg State Classic in Pittsburg, Kan. Rockhurst will face Missouri Western at noon, followed by a match against Southeastern Oklahoma State at 3:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Hawks meet Pittsburg State at 11 a.m. and Missouri Southern at 3 p.m.

Headlining the seven returning starters are sophomores Kelsey Stratman and Whitney Kostal. Stratman, who is a middle hitter, was a third team All-American and Co-Freshman of the Year in the GLVC. Kostal earned All-Conference honors as one of the top setters in the league.

Juniors Emily Ready and Maggie Hummel were two of the Hawks' top hitters last year, while sophomore hitters Katie Loescher and Alyssa Arnold became reliable starters. Freshman Morgan Rietzke joins the team after a stellar high school career at Staley (Mo.) High School. She gives the Hawks another strong outside hitter. Senior libero Victoria Mahl is a three-year starter and ranked in the top 10 in the GLVC in digs per set.

"We expect to be competitive with everybody on our schedule," Rietzke said. "Top to bottom, we have a tougher schedule this year. We would like to go further in the NCAA Tournament this year."