Life for Ashley Haines will be pretty much nonexistent off the court now that volleyball season has started.

It will be the same way for her Bismarck State teammates Britlyn Sturlaugson and Marisa Rauhauser.

All three transition from the volleyball season directly into women's basketball. Life won't slow down for the trio until some time in March.

"It gets to be a lot," said Haines, a 6-foot middle hitter. "It's definitely more than high school with a longer season. The traveling takes a toll on your body."

Haines, a sophomore from Hillsboro, became one of the key cogs for BSC in both sports last year. She plans to take things to a new level this school year, and it starts with volleyball.

"In the volleyball season, I'm not thinking about basketball at all," Haines said. "The time I start to think about basketball, it's when our volleyball tournaments are done."

Haines became BSC's top hitter and blocker last fall with 226 kills and 86 blocks. On the basketball court, Haines also led BSC in scoring with 12.1 points a game and in rebounding with 6.7 caroms a contest.

Leadership is where volleyball coach Linette Olson wants to see the biggest improvement from Haines.

"The expectations are for her to be a leader and set the tone for the competitive nature of the team,"Olson said. "Ashley is a very competitive person. She will be a good role model and leader in that regard for the team. She had it last year, but she was a freshman. By the end of the season she got better with that aspect."

Being a veteran in Olson's program has helped Haines mature into a leader. Haines didn't want to step on anybody's toes last season.

"You want to respect the girls who are older than you,"said Haines, a medical assistant major. "You want to follow them because they do have a year experience on you. This year I'm not afraid to tell the team what I think. If you can get everybody on the court to be a little louder. … That helps our game if everybody on the floor is happy and cheering for each other."

And it helps having fellow sophomores around like Sturlaugson (libero-defense specialist), Chelsy Ciavarella (hitter) and Samantha Buckeye (setter).

"Britlyn and I talked about stepping up and being the leaders of the team,"Haines said. "We want to leave something for these girls so they will know how to lead their team and keep everybody positive."

Olson and Haines are looking to better last year's 11-14 record. Olson has already seen improvements in the preseason two-a-days.

"We are a little more ahead of where we were last year,"Olson said. "We threw more plays in right away. Most of them have picked up on it right away, and that will be an advantage for us coming out of the chute. We have some things we can use that everybody will be familiar with so we can actually run a play."

As a result, Olson said the Mystics should field a stronger offense this season.

Sturlaugson brings energy to the floor defensively. She collected 281 digs last season.

Ciavarella was the Mystics' No. 2 hitter last season with 159 kills. Buckeye collected 85 assists in just 21 games played.