THE OPENING SERVE:
Minnesota Duluth will open their season in St. Cloud, MN this weekend as part of the St. Cloud State/Concordia St. Paul Tournament. The Bulldogs start the weekend with matches against Drury and Oklahoma Baptist on Friday, August 26 and finish it with matches against Ashland and Seattle Pacific on Saturday, August 27. 

SCOUTING REPORT ON DRURY:
Drury is coming off of a 2021 season that saw them land outside of the GLVC Championship Tournament with a 20-11 record. The Panthers are led by head coach Jenifer Bahner-Hill, who enters her 9th season overseeing the team. Bahner-Hill's challenge this season will be to maneuver life without former team leaders in Taylor Forth and Makina Wratten, who both graduated after the 2021 season. Forth led the team last year in both kills with 289 (2.31 K/S) and blocks with 130 (1.04 B/S). Wratten wasn't far behind in either category, registering 269 kills (2.3 K/S) and 120 blocks (1.03 B/S). The Panthers retain the team's leading assist-getter in senior Chloe Rear, who tallied 652 assists last season (8.36 A/S). Also remaining with the team is junior Juliana Squire, who led the team in digs with 485 (3.88 D/S). 

SCOUTING REPORT ON OKLAHOMA BAPTIST:
Oklahoma Baptist enters the 2022 campaign fresh off the heals of a 23-4 2021 season in which they won the GAC regular season title and made it to the championship match of the GAC Conference Tournament. This was sustained success for a program that recorded a "perfect season" in 2020-2021, going 18-0 and winning both the GAC regular season and conference tournament titles. The team was led during this stretch by 14-year coaching veteran Anna Howle, who now enters her 15th season with the program. Howle will have to work to keep the Bison's success afloat, as team stalwarts in Malia Leatherland and Kaylee Buell both graduated after the 2021 season.  Last year, Leatherland led the team in kills with 321 (3.41 K/S), and Buell led in assists with 963 (10.14 A/S). Both registered high marks in total digs, and when paired with fellow graduate Diana Carranza, the Bison have lost their three leading dig-getters. Oklahoma Baptist will look to seniors Taneyah Brown (253 kills in 2021, 2.66 K/S) and Audrey Poupard (team-leading 110 blocks in 2021, 1.24 B/S) to provide offensive and defensive stability, respectively.  

SCOUTING REPORT ON ASHLAND:
Ashland finished last season with an 18-13 record, good enough to win their division of the G-MAC conference in the regular season. The Eagles enter 2022 poised for a breakout year. Fifth-year coach Kevin Foeman retains his team's top offensive talents in fifth-year seniors Erin Krupar (504 kills in 2021, 4.58 K/S) and Zoey Peck (1072 assists in 2021, 9.75 A/S). Foeman also keeps Ashland's top defenders in senior Anna Krikke (102 blocks in 2021, 0.96 B/S) and junior Katie Thompson (403 digs in 2021, 6.20 D/S). 

SCOUTING REPORT ON SEATTLE PACIFIC: 
Seattle Pacific closed the 2021 season with a 15-10 record, falling outside of the GNAC Conference Tournament. Unlike other teams in the St. Cloud State/Concordia St. Paul Tournament, the Falcons will be led by a first-year head coach in Jason Rhine. Rhine takes over for former coach Abbie Wright, who amassed a 65-61 record across 5 seasons with Seattle Pacific. Rhine goes in to his inaugural season without former player Maddie Batiste, who played five seasons with the Falcons and led the team with 228 kills (2.65 K/S) in 2021. There is still hope for a strong debut from Rhine, as his Falcons retain the services of junior Hannah Hair, who registered 217 kills (2.55 K/S) last season while leading the team in blocks with 115 (1.35 B/S). The Falcons also retained two promising sophomores in Emily Tulino and Abigail Cunningham. Tulino led the Falcons last season with 542 assists (6.53 A/S), while Cunningham led in digs per set with 3.09 to accompany 204 kills on the year. Both put up these team-leading numbers as freshmen.

THE SERIES:
The Bulldogs will be playing all of Drury, Oklahoma Baptist and Seattle Pacific for the first time. The Bulldogs have faced Ashland only twice (most recently in 2015), winning both matchups. 

BIG DIGS:
Graduate senior Sydney Lanoue enters the 2022 season just 41 digs away from 1000 for her career. Redshirt senior Madison Gordon is 63 shy of 500 career digs.

THE BROADCAST:
Below are the links to the live streams for each of the Bulldogs' matches in the St. Cloud State/Concordia St. Paul Tournament, in order of occurrence:
Minnesota Duluth vs Drury (August 26, 2022 at 10:30 a.m) : https://nsicnetwork.com/umdbulldogs/?B=403657
Minnesota Duluth vs (August 26, 2022 at 3:00 p.m.): https://nsicnetwork.com/umdbulldogs/?B=403658
Minnesota Duluth vs (August 27, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.): https://nsicnetwork.com/umdbulldogs/?B=403659
Minnesota Duluth vs (August 27. 2022 at 3:30 p.m.): https://nsicnetwork.com/umdbulldogs/?B=403660

Follow along with live stats from all of the tournament's matches here: https://scsuhuskies.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary

UP NEXT:
The Bulldogs will hop from one weekend tournament to another when they travel to the University of Indianapolis for four more matches from September 2nd to September 3rd. September 2nd sees the Bulldogs face off against Missouri - St. Louis at 8:00 a.m. followed by a rematch against Ashland at 2:00 p.m. On September 3rd, the Bulldogs meet Grand Valley State at 9:00 a.m. before finishing out the tournament against Indianapolis at 3:00 p.m.