THE OPENING SERVE: Dropping their first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference match and second overall of the 2017 campaign, the University of Minnesota Duluth hopes to stay in the forefront of the NSIC race with league matches against Minnesota State University-Mankato and No. 2 Concordia University, St. Paul. Romano Gymnasium will host both matches this weekend. The Mavericks visit Friday night at 6:00 p.m. The Bulldogs then host the Golden Bears in one of the nation's most heated rivalries Saturday afternoon.
SCOUTING REPORT ON MINNESOTA STATE: The Mavericks are 9-6 overall having won three of their past four matches including a five-set victory over MSU-Moorhead. MSU poises a threat at the service line and creates easy points as it ranks first in the NSIC in aces per set (1.94) nearly 30 points then the next team.
Sydney Powell is relied on heavily pacing the Mavericks in attacks and kills (3.33 kills per set). Alivia Garb is option No. 2 with 2.44 k/set. A pair of freshman are the top performers in assists and digs. Micayla Porter dishes out a team-leading 5.40 assists per set while Mara Quam defensively pilots the club with 4.08 d/set.
SCOUTING REPORT ON CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL: The Golden Bears are the defending national champions that sport a 14-1 record overall and the No. 2 ranking from the American Volleyball Coaches Association. Their only loss of the season came at the hands of Southwest Minnesota State.
Setter Elizabeth Mohr is second in the country in assists per set (13.30). The Bears are armed with Brooklyn Lewis (3.67 kills per set) and Mariya Sampson (3.09 kills per set) on the outside with Sara Macek (3.09 k/set) patrolling the middle (2.98 k/set). Macek ranks 13th in the nation in hitting percentage (.401). Tori Hansen (4.18 digs per set) and Hope Schiller (3.26 d/set) guard the backcourt.
THE SERIES: The Bulldogs are up 47-18 in 65 all-time meetings against the Mavericks. Head coach Jim Boos is 20-4 lifetime versus MSU-Mankato and has won six of the past seven outings with that lone loss coming on Oct. 23, 2015 in four sets. UMD went 2-0 last year claiming a five-set and a four-set wins in NSIC play.
The matchup will be the 48th meeting between the Bulldogs and the Golden Bears. UMD leads the series 24-23. CSP is the only NSIC team to post a winning record over Boos (23-17). The Bears also have a slight 4-3 edge the past three seasons.
HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and their opponents this weekend stack up in the AVCA poll.
TEAM AVCA
UMD 6th
MSU NR
CSP 2nd
THE BROADCAST: The matches this weekend will be carried live through a video stream, in addition to live stats capabilities, with play-by-play provided by the iFan Sports Network and is available for free at: portal.stretchinternet.com/umd
LAST SIDE OUT: The Bulldogs took out Sioux Falls in straight sets before being blanked for the first time in 53 games against No. 1 Southwest Minnesota State. Concordia-St. Paul was the last time to 3-0 UMD on Oct. 24, 2015.
Three Bulldogs registered double-digits kills with Makenzie Morgen notching 15 kills leading all players. A 6-0 run to start the match guided the Bulldogs to a first set win of 25-17. The second set featured Kate Berg silencing a comeback as she knocked down a kill to tie the game at 26-all then smashed the eventual winner two points later on the third and final set point for UMD. The Bulldogs pulled away 25-22 late in the final stanza for the victory.
UMD endured its first NSIC setback to SMSU even though it hit above the .300 mark for a 11th consecutive contest. The Bulldogs lost the lead late in sets one and three and had tied the Mustangs late in the second but could not cash in. SMSU's Taylor Reiss, the NSIC Player of the Year in 2016, was held in check for two sets before breaking through in the third with nine of her 17 kills in the final frame.
ATOP THE NCAA MOUNTAIN: One month of the volleyball is in the books and UMD ranks among the National Collegiate Athletic Association's best.
Sophomore setter Emily Torve ranks tied for third in the nation with 12.60 assists/set. In 47 sets, Torve ranks 26th in total assists (592) while spliting time. Torve also holds the second best mark throughout NCAA II for 50 assists in a three-set match.
With senior setter Sarah Heesacker, UMD is tops in the nation in assists/set (15.13). Those assists numbers also have the Bulldogs sitting atop of the leader board for kills/set at an astounding 15.98 (62 points better than the Colorado School of Mines).
Senior middle blocker Allison Olley and junior Sarah Kelly have each established themselves as one of the most efficient hitters in the country. Kelly (.482), Olley (.480) and sit first and second, respectively, in attack percentage. Those outstanding clips have catapulted UMD to the best hitting average in the land at .340, 31 points ahead of NSIC foe Northern State.
RIGHT SIDE AND CONQUER: Junior right side hitter Sarah Kelly is third among active players in career hitting percentage. Her .387 clip trails only Brittany Deveaux of Bluefield State College and Alexis Wick of Texas A&W-Kingsville. Kelly hit .360 in back-to-back seasons and is more efficient this year as she has clubbed .480 in 15 games this season while she has increased her kills per set by 78 points up to 3.79.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE: Junior outside hitter Makenzie Morgen has racked up seven double-doubles in the first 15 games of the season.
Sept. 1- Nova Southeastern 11k-12d
Sept. 8- Lake Superior State 15k-13d
Sept. 9- Wisconsin-Parkside 12k-11d
Sept. 14- Minnesota Crookston 14k-10d
Sept. 19- St. Cloud State 12k-10d
Sept. 22- Wayne State 13k-18d
Sept. 23- Augustana 14k-11d
ONE-THOUSAND KILL CLUB WATCH: In addition, junior right side hitter Sarah Kelly is on the verge of becoming the next Bulldog attacker to eclipse the 1,000-kill milestone. The Chaska, Minn., product is 251 kills away from becoming the 20th Bulldog to join the club. Sydnie Mauch was the 19th player in team history to join the prestigious club on Oct. 21, 2016 against Wayne State.
HEAD OF THE ROOKIE CLASS: Outside hitter Kate Berg has shown the tools to become a perennial threat the next three years with her play as a freshman. As the third option in the UMD attack, the Wayzata, Minn., native, leads all NSIC newcomers in a bevy of categories: kills per set (3.36), points per set (3.81), attacks per set (8.30), kills, (158).
SURVEY SAYS: For roughly 15-plus years, the Bulldogs have been nationally ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association. UMD checked in as the seventh-best team to begin the season according to the preseason poll and has climbed up to the No. 6 slot. Two other conference foes sit atop the top ten with Southwest Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul settling into the number one and two spots, respectively. Northern State (13), Winona State (14), Augustana (17) and Wayne State College (21) are the other squads in the NSIC that are represented in the poll
Rank School Points Record
1 Southwest Minn. State (47) 1199 15-0
2 Concordia-St. Paul 1149 14-1
3 Lewis 1089 14-1
4 Palm Beach Atlantic 1048 12-0
5 Callfornia Baptist (1) 964 13-0
6 Minnesota Duluth 939 13-2
7 Ferris State 882 13-2
8 Central Oklahoma 858 18-1
9 Nebraska-Kearney 798 15-2
10 Regis 707 14-1
SURVEY SAYS II: In the perennial Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Coaches Preseason Poll, the Bulldogs were chosen to finish third in the 16-team conference. UMD was selected behind NCAA II defending champions Concordia-St. Paul and Southwest Minnesota State. The Golden Bears received 218 points and amassed 10 first-place votes. The Mustangs collected 202 points and three first-place tallies. The Bulldogs came up one point shy of SMSU and had one first-place vote. Augustana was the other institution to garner a top-place finish. Augustana (172) along with Winona State (171) round out the top five.
BOOS CLUES: In his 16th year at the helm of the UMD volleyball program, Jim Boos has turn the volleyball club into a perennial national contender.
Boos was hired on July 24, 2002 to become the fourth coach since 1976, succeeding Pati Rolf, and has become the longest tenured volleyball coach in the Bulldogs' 41-year history.
The native of Delafield, Wis. has produced a 419-76 record and has taken his club into the NCAA tournament every year expect the 2015 season being an illuminating one despite knocking off the eventual champions Wheeling Jesuit twice in the regular season.
UMD earned its inaugural trip to the NCAA II Elite Eight in 2004 before losing to eventual champions Barry University. Boos was given the prestigious accolade of AVCA Coach of the Year. Two years later, Boos and the Bulldogs would returned with another deep postseason before falling to the University of Tampa, who would be crowned National Champions.
The Bulldogs under the direction of Boos haven't been to kind to the NSIC or the NCC. Boos holds a staggering career conference record of 227-34.
Boos has hand-crafted numerous players that have rewritten the record books, and have retooled the expectations set forth yearly by the program. To date, 22 individuals have accumulated AVCA All-American honors since Boos arrival. Each of the past 15 years, the Bulldogs have had at least one representative selected to the all-american team.
Before his time at UMD, Boos served as an assistant coach at UW-Oshkosh for five years (1992-98) and assistant at North Dakota State University (1998-2001).
LEADERS OF THE PACK: Sarah Heesacker, Kelly Madison and Allison Olley will operate as co-pilots for the 2017 squad. All three players are serving their fourth and final collegiate seasons. Since their arrival on campus, the three seniors have gone an impressive 94-17. For their first three years, the .847 winning percentage is the eighth-best in the nation.
NEW DOGS ON THE BLOCK: The Bulldogs bring in three new freshmen (Megan Freeberg, Kate Berg and Lexy Langenfeld) and a transfer for the 2017 season. Mandy Kurosky, a local native of Duluth, Minn., will sit out the 2017 season due to transfer restrictions after playing the few couple years at Northern State University.
UP NEXT: The Bulldogs have No. 13 Winona State University and Upper Iowa University on the docket next weekend (Oct. 13-14). Both NSIC games are on the road.
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