DaytonDailyNews.com

OXFORD — The Miami University volleyball team made the NCAA Tournament last season and is this year's pre-season favorite to win the Mid-American Conference East Division title.

That's fine with head coach Carolyn Condit and her RedHawks, but their list of goals doesn't stop there, a list they hope to achieve with the help of a very difficult schedule.

"We have everybody back but Carli (Reihman) and Jeanna (Staun), who graduated, so we have the experience and hitting power to take on the non-conference schedule we've got coming up," said Condit, who ranks among the nation's top coaches with 518 career wins.

"There are six or seven opponents we play before the (Mid-American Conference) season starts who went to the NCAA Tournament last year," Condit pointed out. "This is the toughest (schedule) by far we've ever faced."

That schedule begins tonight, Aug. 29, at Millett Hall with the start of the annual Best Western Invitational, which features the host RedHawks, Saint Louis (a team coming off two straight 20-win seasons) and Stephen F. Austin (which posted 27 wins a year ago).

"The value of (a tough schedule) is that if we played those big-time opponents and play them well, and upset one or two of them, it'll put us in the regional rankings," Condit said.

The RedHawks would be overjoyed, she added, to be ranked in the regional Top 10 or the national Top 25.

And they do have weapons. Such as MAC Freshman of the Year Michele Metzler, a middle hitter. Plus all-MAC performers Emily Schroeder (senior outside hitter), Megan Griffin (junior middle hitter) and Andrea Atteberry (junior setter). And Alex Ratcliff (senior outside hitter), who made the 2007 all-MAC Tournament team.

The RedHawks also have Melissa Zenz, a senior libero who is closing in on the 1,000th dig of her career.

And there is junior middle hitter Hallie Hanks, "who I think is going to be a sleeper," Condit said. "She has the fastest arm swing of anyone on our team. She's already earned a starting position for this weekend."

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.

Best Western Miami Invitational

Friday, Aug. 29: Miami vs. Saint Louis, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 30: Miami vs. Saint Louis, 10:30 a.m.; Saint Louis vs. Stephen F. Austin, 2:30 p.m.; Miami vs. Stephen F. Austin, 7 p.m.