THE OPENING SERVE:
The UMD volleyball team has settled into Wayne, Nebraska, host site of the Central Regional of the NCAA Tournament. Friday (Nov. 18), the Bulldogs will kick off postseason action with a match against sixth-seeded Washburn at noon.

RANKINGS ROUNDUP:
In the penultimate installment of the AVCA Coaches Poll, UMD slotted in at No. 6. There's still something to that number, but the one that matters most to the Bulldogs now and will for the rest of the way is their No. 3 positioning within the Central Region. As a refresher, only No. 2 Concordia and region-host Wayne State slot higher.

LAST TIME OUT:
The Bulldogs started their trip to St. Paul for the NSIC tournament with a bang by defeating Sioux Falls in straight sets on Friday, Nov. 11. The following day, UMD battled hard against Concordia, but the Golden Bears came away with the contest in three sets. Concordia would move on to the NSIC championship game, where it would lose to red-hot, fifth-seeded St. Cloud State in five sets.
 
TOURNAMENT-TIME BULLDOGS:
If you're looking for a team with some postseason prowess under its belt, you don't have to click off of this tab.

This year marks the 23rd time UMD has made the NCAA Tournament. This is quite the number, but here's something to help quantify how much of this success has been in recent memory: 18 of these journeys have been made with current UMD head coach Jim Boos at the helm.

It doesn't come as much of a shock, then, that both of the Bulldogs' trips to the Final Four have come under Boos' tenure. Boos brought UMD to its first Final Four in school history in just his third year with the program. That season, the Bulldogs went 27-5, 10-2 in the North Central Conference that they resided in at the time. After winning the NCC title, UMD sure didn't slow down. They'd win their first four matches of the NCAA Tournament while dropping just two total sets along the way. Unfortunately, this would spell the end of the Bulldogs' historic run, as they would lose to eventual-champion Barry in straight sets in the semifinals.

UMD wouldn't have to wait long to taste Final Four glory once again.

The 2006 Bulldogs had some kind of season. They'd end that campaign with a 31-4 record, going a perfect 12-0 in the NCC. Needless to say, UMD walked away from the year with more conference hardware. Once again, the Bulldogs rode this momentum to an impressive tournament outing. They'd lose just three sets this time around on the path to a semifinal meeting with No. 1 Tampa. They wouldn't know it then, but unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they were again running into a future tourney champ. UMD would lose to Tampa, which would go on to win its first title in program history.

The Bulldogs' best efforts as of the last decade came in back-to-back tries.

In 2013, UMD finished the regular season 28-2. They'd barely miss out on NSIC regular-season glory, but that didn't stop them from taking the tournament title- sweeping their way to it, in fact. After a conference tourney run like that, it was fated that the Bulldogs would make some noise in the Big Dance. They did more than that- they just kept sweeping. UMD won each of its first NCAA Tournament matchups with 3-0 scores. Suppose some trends just have a habit of repeating themselves. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, a trend of old would come back for another visit, one a little less pleasant. UMD would lose to Concordia in the Regional Final, and the Golden Bears would go on to win their seventh-consecutive NCAA Title.

Still, all things considered, not a bad effort from the Bulldogs. Why not do it again? That they did in 2014. Like, almost the exact same thing- they were 28-1 heading into the tournament, their only loss coming against No. 1 Tampa. The only difference this time is that the Bulldogs wouldn't be denied the NSIC regular-season crown, going a perfect 20-0 in conference play. They'd maintain ownership of the tournament title, too, dropping just one set in their first-round matchup. From there, the brooms came out once again- and stayed out for the NCAA Tournament. Heading into their contest against No. 4 Southwest Minnesota State, UMD had failed to lose a frame in tournament play. That is until SMSU ended an impressive Bulldog run with a 3-1 win. The good news in terms of historical haunts is that the Mustangs didn't go on to win the tournament. The bad news is that a familiar name from earlier in the season (and the millennium) did: Tampa.

This UMD squad has been on the doorstep time and time again, and if they've lost, it's always been to the cream of the crop. Still, this is all consolation- the Bulldogs want this to be the year that they've risen to the top by the end of November.

SCOUTING REPORT ON WASHBURN:
To be the best, you've got to beat the best. It's strange that they'll be attempting to do it in the first round, but the Bulldogs will be giving it a shot against Washburn nonetheless.

The Ichabods didn't win the title last year, but they got as close as you could without pulling it off, losing in the championship game to… Tampa.  What a Washburn squad it was, though, finishing the year with a 31-6 record and a 17-3 standing in MIAA play. They did this on the back of five different Ichabods registering 200 or more kills, with Genna Berg and Allison Maxwell breaking 400. Another Allison in Allison Sadler put up 1368 assists in the process- someone had to be setting all this up, after all. Life was good in Topeka, Kansas, save for result of the season's very last match.

The 2022 campaign has provided similar morale with much, much different personnel.

Only one of Washburn's 200+ kill-getters from a year ago is still on the roster, that being Jalyn Stevenson. The Ichabods' ever-reliable setter in Sadler is also gone. Even defensively, there was quite a shift. Both Washburn's leading blocker and dig-getter graduated after last season. Most schools might look at a season following this kind of mass departure as a time to regroup and retool towards greener pastures. The Ichabods posed this question: who's to say the grass beneath your feet can't just stay as green as can be?

It was almost entirely a home-grown effort. This year's Washburn squad had six players reach triple-figure kills, and all but one of them was along for the championship appearance a season ago, the only exception being a transfer in Sophie McMullen. Remember that lone 200+ kill returner, Stevenson? She eclipsed the 263-kill effort of her freshman season with 371 this year, which led the team.
Last year, the Ichabods had been No. 1 in the country in total kills. This year, drastic as their offensive overhaul may have been, they were still No. 5. Still No. 21 in kills per set with 13.91.

And who played the role of distributor this time around? Well, it wasn't just a single player that rose to fill Sadler's shoes- it was a duo. Both Sydney Conner and Corinna McMullen had 500+ assists. Last season with Sadler, the Ichabods were fourth in the country in total assists. This year, they were still 15th.

This goes without mentioning Washburn's improvement when it came to staying in rallies. The Ichabods went from 26th in digs per set all the way up to fifth, from seventh in team digs to third.
Needless to say, Washburn wasted absolutely no time wallowing. Instead, they enter the NCAA Tournament with a 24-7 record, fresh off of winning the MIAA Tournament Title. First round contest or not, don't treat the Ichabods lightly.

BITS FROM BOOS:
That was a lot. Really, NCAA Tournament time as a whole is a lot.

Every single game in a season of volleyball matters, but there's a slightly different feel when you know that if you come up short in your next matchup, even if it's just by a set, a point, a hair, there won't be another one waiting around the corner to help you rebound.

It can be easy for fans of sport to let this tension eat away at them. It isn't so easy, cannot be so easy, for athletes themselves- or their coaches. Coach Boos discussed two options: using the fragility of the remainder of the season as a driving force or instead focusing on all that has gone right up to this point rather than what might lie ahead at all.

"I think that can serve as a motivator, for sure," Boos said. "You look at what Washburn did last weekend in their conference tournament or what St. Cloud did last weekend in the Northern Sun tournament. Sometimes, when you're playing with an added pressure, your back against the wall… that can bring out the best in you. With that said, making the Central Regional Tournament means you've had a very special year and you're certainly one of the better teams in the country. I think you've got to relish in the opportunity that you have and not get too worked up about the what-ifs and focus more on the why you got there and try to bring out the best in each other… knowing that the team you're playing on the other side of the net is every bit as talented and has had every bit as good a year as what you're about to talk about in your resume. It's the challenge of the central region that no match is going to be an easy match, and you know what you're up against, and you're going to have to play extremely well. That's what we're hoping we're going to do."

Still, those "what-ifs" loom… and they only get closer and closer to your ear as a match is actually ongoing.

It's the whispers of these forces that can cause teams to make knee-jerk decisions, change something for the sake of making a change, to say that they made some kind of effort to warp fate. Get into any disadvantage this time of year, and it's easy to feel like the sky is falling. But what if the best answer sometimes is to simply stop yourself from providing a remedy at all?

Of course, it's not as simple as being hands-off at all times, but sometimes… it might not be the worst idea. It's important to remember that the team on the court that may be experiencing hardship in the moment is same one that has weathered it in the past to be able to get to this point at all.

Who better than Boos to help elaborate on this discussion.

"I think you've got to have a gauge for where your team's at- is there a chance to maybe light a fire and have someone come in and add a quick spark to what you're doing…" Boos said. "But ultimately, I've always been a proponent of 'the horses that got you to where you're at are the horses you've got to ride to the finish line and stick with.' I've always been of that mentality. Dramatic change in that moment, I don't feel like is going to be your answer- you've got to trust the people who have gotten you there and (that) they've put in the work to get it done. The beauty of our sport is momentum can switch very quickly, and it can be a pretty dramatic switch at times, so sometimes it's just staying the course and waiting for that moment to hit where you get a little momentum and things start going your direction, and maybe you can flip it. Obviously, at some point in time, you feel like what you're trying or what you're doing isn't working- you've got to try something. There's only so many things we as volleyball coaches can do. Some of it is rotating, starting in a different rotation to change your matchups with the team on the other side. Some of it is changing your personnel and trying something a little bit different, changing a formation, whatever it might be. You're not going to completely change your offense in seconds- you may change how you're defending someone briefly, but ultimately, who you are is who you are, and it's going to boil down to who can execute what they do better."

Speaking of being what you are, it's fair to say that Washburn probably isn't in the midst of an identity crisis right now. If anything, this kind of season should only serve as affirmation.

It makes you wonder if there's something ticking at the core of the team that was left unaffected by all the change, something that allowed the team to continue to have such success instead. Sports-speak may refer to this as a system, a strategy, a general game plan. To Boos, there's certainly credence to the notion- it's how he's operated his teams, too.

Still, that commonality isn't enough to totally overlook the dramatic change of names on the court for Washburn. Something is bound to operate differently. Again, this isn't something unique to the Ichabods- other teams have had to approach the Bulldogs the same way, just as Washburn will have to ahead of Friday. Boos is aware that there are two sides to this coin.

"In looking at the current film, there's certainly some similarities to what they do or how they do it or general tendencies that they have as a team," Boos said. "I think as (Washburn head coach Chris Herron) was watching our film, he could probably say the same thing, because we played them back in 2018 at the regional. Our system and some of our fundamental principles probably still hold true- that's typically the case for coaches who have been around for a long time and have had some success is that their system is their system, their style is their stye. They may tweak it and adjust a little bit each year, but there's still some general overriding things that are going to have similarities, and I think that's the case with Washburn. With that said, they had a lot of really upper-level, experienced, talented kids across their lineup. Now, they're a much younger team that is still extremely talented and obviously have gone on an incredible run, but they're not quite as experienced in terms of the big time matches as what last year's group was who had been to the regional several times and had steadily gotten better each year, so it's a very different group- but I could argue the same for our group. Last time we were at the regional was 2019, and there're very few players on our roster that were a part of that, and the ones that were a part of it didn't play a lot. So really, for us, this is our first crack at this as well."

Old terms start to rear their ugly heads: nervousness, the unknown, what-ifs. To Boos, the team that will come out on top Friday will be the one that can best keep those ghouls at-bay, even in the heat of battle.

 "I think for both teams, it's how do you handle the nerves, the knowing it's a win or go home and playing against someone you're not that familiar with and adjusting to what they're doing and what you need to do different," Boos said. "That's going to be the chess game that's going to be going on for probably a set or a set and a half when we play on Friday as both coaches and both staffs try to figure out any adjustments we need to make to make things a little easier."
 
THE BROADCAST:
Catch the First Round action live through the NSIC Network by clicking the link below:
vs Washburn (Friday, Nov. 18 @ 12 p.m.): bit.ly/3TP5Tit

UP NEXT:
We'll keep our lips sealed here.