THE OPENING SERVE:
This past weekend, the UMD volleyball team split its slate of matches for just the third time this season, dropping a Friday night contest against Northern before rebounding against MSU Moorhead on Saturday. 

Right now, the Bulldogs are 23-3. Right now, UMD is ranked #5 in the entire country. Right Now, the squad sits at #3 in the Central Region in the NCAA's first Regional Rankings of the year. Perhaps the Bulldogs are coming out of a weekend that didn't quite reach their standards, but they've been in a perpetual state of success for most of the year. There's no shame in being present in that success rather than dwelling on something that's over and done with. 

This weekend, each of the teams UMD will play host to are operating under a similar mindset: Mary (Friday, November 4 at 6:00 p.m.) and Minot State (Saturday, November 5 at 2:00 p.m.)

SCOUTING REPORT ON MARY:
These aren't September's Marauders. 

Since the Bulldogs defeated the team in the first weekend of NSIC play nearly two months ago to drop it to a record of 1-9, Mary has upped its pace. The Marauders are 5-11 since that match, a considerable improvement from their original tempo. Speaking of improvements, Mary has won its last three matches heading into the weekend. 

With this in mind, the Marauders sit at a record of 6-20, a conference record of 5-13. With only eight teams making the NSIC tournament and eighth place Augustana holding a conference standing of 10-8, Mary's hopes for a tournament bid are shot with just four matches remaining. That has nothing to do with their compete level- clearly. The Marauders are playing just as hard now as they have all year, and they're finally starting to reap the benefits of this effort, tournament or no tournament. This is the kind of mindset that builds programs that will make the tournament for years to come in the future. For now, though, Mary is focused on getting those building blocks perfectly into place. 

A match against a top-five team in UMD- on the road, no less- presents about as good of a chance as any for the Marauders to expedite that process. For as determined as the Bulldogs will be to fully right the wrongs of this past weekend, they should be under no illusions that their determination won't be matched on the other side of the net. 

Leading the Mary offense is someone that will rank highly among the most locked-in players on the entire court Saturday: Ellis Nehkyah. With a win, the senior could solidify this season as the most successful year she's had as a Marauder. Nehkyah's played a big role in making this a possibility, leading her team in kills with 229 (2.60 K/S). Feeding Nehkyah the ball has been a player on the exact opposite side of her journey at Mary, someone who's hoping that the success of the latter half of this year is just a mere glimpse into what she'll be able to see this team accomplish: freshman Maddy Freed. Freed leads all Marauders with 509 assists (6.61 A/S). These two lead an offense that has been consistent in its relentless attack all season, from 1-9 to 6-20. Mary is 49th in the country in attacks per set, operating at a rate of 37.09 attacks a frame. 

Defensively, the Marauders are led by a duo of promising sophomores that also hope to be around for their program's next big break. Kaia Sueker leads the team in digs with 428 (4.81 D/S). That per-set clip is good for 50th in the country.  Maddie cooper is the Marauders' best blocker, leading the team with 65 (0.73). 

For this group, the goal is simple: get to 7-20. Extend the streak to four games. Win, win, win. 


SCOUTING REPORT ON MINOT STATE:
If you're a proponent of living in the present, odds are you might be a fan of elevating the status of every victory that you're able to pull off. There's a good chance we've just described the mindset of Minot State.

In their last match, the Beavers defeated Minnesota Crookston 3-1. Hey, a win's a win- you'll always take one. For Minot, this was something different- this was their very first win of the season.

Chances are that Minot currently has little interest in discussing their overall record, their NSIC record, their seat at the table in the grand scheme of the conference. What matters to that program right now is the fact that they won. Perhaps more accurately, what rests at top of the team's collective conscience is the goal of winning again. 

For a Minot group that is full of young players still writing the earliest pages of their collegiate careers, there are certainly worse mindsets to have. 

Every single statistical leader for the Beavers is an underclassmen. No seasoned veteran of an attacker to be found here- Minot is led by sophomore Alexandra Koontz's 164 kills (2.10 K/S). Koontz has a year on her freshman setter in Jaina Macaulay, who leads Minot with 342 assists (4.38 A/S). Similar story with the Beaver defense. Freshman Viktoria Sedova leads the team in digs with 161 (2.78 D/S) while sophomore Jenna Pahlen has a team-high 47 blocks (0.61 B/S). 

The current Minot operation rips the concept of sports down to its most fundamental parts. There is no pageantry in what the Beavers are doing, no potential for a massive top-ten matchup, no care for tournament locales or Regional seeding. Minot is as one-track minded as any team could be. Don't get it twisted- this only makes them more dangerous. Teams with nothing to lose don't have much baggage to haul around from match to match, arena to arena- they can pack pretty light. That has a habit of making you a little more agile. 


BITS FROM BOOS:
If you're searching for the group most likely to have vested interest in the "right now"s of any given team, you can probably rest easy once you've landed on coaches. UMD head coach Jim Boos is no exception. 

Boos sees Mary as a team on the upswing that's about to be tasked with proving themselves against some stiff competition. Regardless of how daunting the road ahead may appear for the Marauders, the verdict of their weekend sure hasn't been predetermined based on rankings and records. If anything, playing against the odds might just motivate Mary even more. Boos understands this. 

"It looks like they've got some things going," Boos said of the Marauders. "I really like the job their setter does in running their offense. They're on a three-match winning streak, so I expect them to come in and have some confidence with what they're doing looking to finish on a high note against a tough back-to-back matchup. Having to go from us to St. Cloud- those are tough matches. I expect the team to come out and play with some confidence. I've been pretty impressed with how they've played."

Just as he doesn't discredit the Marauders, Boos will pay no shortage of respect to Minot ahead of their visit to Romano on Saturday. He's well aware of the work the Beavers put in towards their first win and how much that work has allowed them to grow as a unit since their last encounter with the Bulldogs. UMD has its own visions of how Saturday night will go, but Boos understands that things will look a little bit different for Minot. 

"It's been a long time since we've played them, so even though it's the second time, it's been a while- for both teams," Boos said. "(Minot) was our opening match of conference play, and they're a younger team. A lot of freshmen and sophomores on that roster, so as you would anticipate, throughout the season, they've gotten steadily better and have learned from being out on the floor and getting more experience and playing against high-level competition. I just think they're playing better volleyball and they look a little bit more connected and together with their systems and what they do. Certainly anticipate a good, competitive match, and ultimately for us, a chance to wrap up the season at home and celebrate our seniors."

So far, the discussion of the importance of living for the now has been mostly rooted in advisories against focusing too much on what's already happened. However, for as important as it is to keep your eyes forward, it's equally as imperative that you don't let your vision seep too far into the distance. 

For a team like the Bulldogs, this is the busiest time of the year. On one hand, you have postseason aspirations to ponder. In another, you hold the reality that for some players on the team, this will be the last go-around, regardless of the results ahead. Hope you have a third hand somewhere (suppose it was just Halloween), because you still have to make room for the plate of opponents that's about to be presented to you. In reality, the best a team can hope for is that it can learn to juggle. 

That's what UMD will be tasked with as early as this weekend. For Boos, the solution is simple: set the future aside for now until you can see the bottom of the plate. This doesn't serve to make light of what is to come. If anything, a mindset like this will put a team in the best possible position to deal with those battles once they come. The key is that they haven't quite arrived yet. 

When it comes to team optics ahead of a potential NSIC Tournament run, for example, Boos realizes that the team has things to work on to allow the team's real self to better align with the one in the team's dreams.

"In terms of not looking ahead, you take what's right in front of you," Boos said. "We feel like we've got some things we still need to iron out after our last weekend where, from an offensive perspective, we weren't right where we wanted to be in terms of how our offense was executing. One of the things our focus is on this week is just righting the ship there and getting back to being the efficient, terminal offense that we know we're capable of being as we look to head into the conference tournament the next weekend."

That ship may be headed towards emotional waters for Bulldog seniors setting out on their final voyages, but Boos has a few remedies to help weather the tide. 

"For the seniors, we celebrate it after the match on Saturday so that the emotions don't really hit you until you're done and you get a chance to celebrate and look back on the things that they've helped accomplish," Boos said. "At the same point in time, this year, that won't be the end for them- they'll still have an opportunity to compete next week. I think keeping that big picture in mind and staying motivated to continue to play will still be at the front of their minds."


THE SERIES:
Look... it's a formality.

With 3-0 wins over Mary and Minot earlier in the year, the Bulldogs have extended their all-time head-to-head leads against these two clubs to 19-0 and 14-0 respectively.


THE BROADCAST:
Can't make it to Romano to help make the Bulldogs' regular-season swansongs matches to remember? No worries! You can still support the squad by following the action live on the NSIC Network through the links below:
vs Mary (Friday, November 4 @ 6:00 p.m.): https://bit.ly/3DVQfNu
vs Minot State (Saturday, November 5 @ 2:00 p.m.): https://bit.ly/3sRNG8S

LAST TIME OUT:
This has been said once before- no need to say it again!

UP NEXT: 
The road ahead for the Bulldogs after this weekend is murky with regards to its particulars, but one thing is for certain: UMD will have a spot on the bracket for the NSIC Tournament, which starts on Friday, November 11.