DAYTON - The num­ber of returning players to Shannon Turner's vol­leyball team may be the same as last year: six.

But there's something different about the core of the Dayton team this year.

"I'm pretty positive," Turner said about the 2013 volleyball sea­son that started with Monday's jamboree in Clarkston and gave fans a first look at this year's lady Dogs in their home game against Pomeroy on Tuesday night.

"The team chemistry is really good and their confidence is higher," the team's head coach said. "They're competitive, court smart and they play their roles well. There's a lot more experience com­ing back this year."

It isn't that the 2012 Bulldogs didn't have any of these attributes, particularly with the likes of graduates McKayla Bickelhaupt and Jessica Tate. They did. But the 2013 team just seems to have more of it, Turner explained, particularly with six returnees who "all had a big place in the rotation (in 2012)."

Take height, for in­stance. A number of this year's players aren't only veterans from previous years, they're bumping up against the 6-foot mark, making the 2013 Lady Dogs the tallest in half a decade, she said.

The varsity team has nine players and one who might rotate between the JV and the top group later in the season. Local fans are excited about the return of lone senior Courtney Mings, who has fully recovered from a knee injury and surgery that sidelined her in sev­eral sports physically but never emotionally.

Mings, an outside hit­ter whom Turner de­scribed as one of the strongest passers and servers, has been desig­nated as the team's cap­tain along with returning junior and co-captain Sarah Phillips, whose presence on the floor is huge "because she works so hard," Turner said about the all-around ath­lete whom she put in the libero position.

Chelsey Wooldrige and Lexi Ramirez are the other returning juniors. Ramirez will play the right side and set, while Wooldridge will be in her third year as a setter. Other juniors from last year's JV team include Taylor Frame and Keelin Hovrud.

Madison Mings and Brianna Myrick are the team's starting sopho­mores, both pegged as middle blockers who are quickly gaining in com­posure and effectiveness, according to their coach.

Turner said she's thrilled to have the tall and versatile freshman Jocelyn Fullerton as one of her new players. As the starting setter, solid outside hitter and middle blocker, Fullerton "is strong anywhere on the court and will be a big help to us," she said.

Last year, the Lady Dogs made it to regionals and Turner is confident they will do so again this year, possibly as second in league. In the battle for the top, they'll be up against the likes of power teams Waitsburg- Prescott, Walla Walla Academy and always for­midable Asotin Panthers, whom Turner described as "tall, hard-hitting and scrappy."