From the moment Ben Wallis took over the UTEP volleyball program for the 2019 season, there was an air of inevitability to the Miners' rise.
That flew into high gear last season when the Miners turned their first winning season since 2012 into their first conference tournament win since 2008, eventually finishing 10-7 after a spring season that saw them take second in Conference USA West.
The bar now raises as UTEP enters a season-opening, three-games-in-two-days tournament at Idaho State. Expectations are higher than they've been in years but the Miners think they have the ammunition to meet them.