The No. 1 University of Minnesota Duluth volleyball team travels to St. Paul for a match-up with conference rival and No. 2 team in the nation, the Concordia University, St. Paul on Friday evening.
The Bulldogs (12-0, 3-0 NSIC) ride into the Twin Cities on a 12-match winning streak to begin their 2013 campaign and have revenge on their mind: the Golden Bears (11-1, 3-0 NSIC) just so happen to be the last team to defeat UMD, knocking off last year's squad in the second match of the NCAA Central Regional en route to a sixth-straight National Championship. Historically, the Bulldogs are 21-17 all-time against Concordia-St. Paul, undefeated in their first ten matches before the Golden Bears turned the tide more in their favor. Still, UMD has defeated Concordia once in each of the past two seasons.
Hunting the Bears
Three-time AVCA Coach of the Year Brady Starkey has been at the helm of Concordia-St. Paul for the past 11 seasons and has posted a 177-6 all-time record in NSIC competition with half of those losses coming at the hands of UMD. Under his tutelage, the Golden Bears have 17 wins against the Bulldogs, but including the four years UMD competed in the NCC (2004-07), Duluth has handed him ten losses.
Concordia-St. Paul returned just two starters from last year's championship team, but they are a pair of AVCA All-American first-teamers in setter Amanda Konetchy and right-side hitter Kayla Koenecke. Konetchy's 4,739 career assists ranks at the top of NCAA II among active players while Koenecke's 1,335 kills ranks sixth in the nation. Konetchy has actually split time as a setter this season, with 263 assists to sophomore Kasey Williams' 243. Sophomore libero Taylor Dordan split time as a defensive specialist in 2012 before taking on the starting role this season, collecting 172 digs so far in 2013. Seniors Riley Hanson (MB), Erienne Lauersdorf (OH), Kara Pisoke (OH), and sophomore Emily McDonough (OH) round out their starting line-up. While Koenecke leads the Bears with 138 kills on the season, McDonough and Hanson each have over 100 for the year.
Concordia had a 23-match home winning streak snapped earlier this season by another NSIC rival in No. 8 Wayne State (Neb.) College during its own season-opening tournament. UMD was the last team to knock off the Golden Bears at home, a five-set victory on Oct. 22, 2011. CU has lost just four sets all season, sweeping every victory except when they knocked off then-No. 1 Tampa in a four-set affair on Sept. 14.
Top Dogs
Two weeks into head coach
Jim Boos' tenure at UMD, the Bulldogs cracked the AVCA Top 25 poll for the first time. They have been ranked every week since, including 11 weeks in the top spot. Boos tied Pati Rolf for most victories in a UMD coaching career as the Bulldogs downed St. Cloud State earlier this week and will look to make the record-setting win number 311 even more special by toppling his perennial conference rival.
Senior
Kate Lange leads the Bulldogs from the outside hitter position. She currently ranks second among NCAA II active players with 1,648 kills in her career, just four behind the leader in over 700 fewer attempts. Her 4.41 per-game average is best in Division II among fourth-year players. UMD returned all but one player from their starting line-up, including current NSIC Setter of the Week, sophomore
Ashley Hinsch. She has collected 507 assists on the season. Sophomore middle blocker
Monica Turner has a .385 hitting percentage on the year, fourth-best in the NSIC. She has 35 total blocks to lead the Bulldogs, collecting 11 in three games last week. Junior libero
Julie Rainey has 191 digs on the season. Lange and junior
Katie Ledwell have also contributed defensively with 100-plus digs on the year. Senior defensive specialist
Elizabeth Benusa rounds out the regular starting line-up with freshman
Sydnie Mauch and junior
Maddy Siroin each splitting time on the right side.
The top-ranked team in the nation is used to facing stiff competition, defeating three AVCA Top 25 teams already this season. Like the Golden Bears, UMD has lost just five sets this season. Unlike Concordia, the Bulldogs have maintained their undefeated mark. They have played just one five-set match, defeating No. 18 Wheeling Jesuit to open the season. UMD has earned sweeps in each of its last five matches.
You don't have to dig far in the record books to find the last time No. 1 played No. 2 because Concordia-St. Paul knocked off then-No. 1 Southwest Minnesota State in the regular season finale of 2012 on Nov. 10, handing the Mustangs both of their losses in the NSIC last season.
On Oct. 1, 2010, the Bulldogs saw themselves knocked out of the top spot by then-No. 2 Wayne State (Neb.)Â before reclaiming No. 1 a week later after third-ranked SMSU downed the Wildcats. It was No. 2 Concordia who stole the top spot from Wayne later in the 2010 season, escaping with a tough win on Oct. 29. The team did not have long to celebrate its victory though, as No. 1 Concordia and No. 2 UMD faced off just three days later, with the Golden Bears taking a three-set victory.
In 2011, the Bulldogs and Golden Bears each knocked each other out of the number one ranking as a fourth-ranked road team. UMD beat Concordia 3-2 on Oct. 22 before the Bears returned the favor 3-0 on Nov. 1. Live video of this historic match-up will be available on Concordia-St. Paul's website or by
clicking here, or you can follow the match via live stats
here.
Looking Ahead
The Bulldogs will continue on the road this weekend against a tough Minnesota State University Mankato squad. They will have less than 24 hours to re-energize after the battle with No. 2 as they take on the Mavericks at 4:00 p.m. Saturday. MSU fell to Concordia on Tuesday evening and wil host St. Cloud State Friday before facing off with UMD. Minnesota State enters the weekend 6-4. The match can be viewed on MSU Mankato's website or by
clicking here, or you can follow live stats
here.
The hottest ticket in St. Paul on Friday night will be for the Ganglehoff Center on the campus of Concordia-St. Paul as No. 1 and No. 2 in the nation face off. Opening serve is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
