Live Stats (Upper Iowa match)
Live Stats (Winona State match)
Live Video (both matches)
MOORHEAD, Minn. -- Riding a two-match winning streak, the Minnesota State University Moorhead volleyball team is back on the road once again this week with a pair of NSIC matches. The Dragons will play at Upper Iowa on Friday for a 7 p.m. match and will conclude the weekend on Saturday at first-place Winona State (4 p.m. first serve).
Live stats and live video links can be accessed above, while game notes can be found below.
The Dragons (12-6, 4-5 NSIC) swept Bemidji State and beat Minnesota-Crookston in four sets on the road last weekend.
MSUM, which is receiving votes in the latest AVCA Division II Top 25 poll and is just outside the AVCA Top 25, is led by sophomore hitter
Annie Palmquist, who has 203 kills and is hitting .260 for the season. Senior
Heidi Lensing has 191 kills, while sophomore
Maggie Gruber has 150 and freshman
Kaitlin VanWinkle 144. Senior setter
Anna Olson has 460 set assists, while senior libero
Katy Ness has 412 digs (best in the NSIC). VanWinkle leads with 68 total blocks, an average of 1.00 per game.
As a team, MSUM is hitting .227, compared to .193 for its opponents.
Tammy Blake, the dean of NSIC volleyball coaches, is in her 18th year at MSUM. She is 312-234 at the school.
The Opponents
About Upper Iowa
The Peacocks are 11-7 overall and 5-4 in the NSIC. They defeated Sioux Falls in a five-set thriller last weekend in Sioux Falls, S.D. Upper Iowa is 6-0 at home this season.
Melanie Behnke leads UIU with 271 kills, while Jennifer Mundt has 202. Skylar Lesan has 453 set assists for the Peacocks, who are hitting .192 as a team. Danielle Gernes has 375 digs while Hailey Brown has 236 for Upper Iowa. Aaron Nelson is in his second season as UIU's head coach with a record of 26-22 at the school.
About Winona State
Winona State is 16-3 overall and 8-1 in the NSIC. The Warriors are tied for first place with Minnesota-Duluth and Southwest Minnesota State. Winona State saw a 15-match winning streak end at the hands of No. 2 SMSU on Oct. 6. The Warriors are receiving votes and are just outside the AVCA Top 25 in the latest rankings.
Bekah Saugen leads Winona with 212 kills, while Katie Froehle has 189 and Kate Horihan 183. Elena Kruesel has 270 set assists for the Warriors, who are hitting .205 as a team. Maggie Finkle leads Winona with 282 digs.
Dave Simon, the former head coach at Minnesota-Crookston, is in his fourth season as Winona State's head coach with a record of 44-54 at the school.
Climbing the Charts
--Ness has moved into second all-time in career digs at MSUM with 1,882.
--Lensing is at 1,168 kills and is now seventh all-time in school history. She is just 22 kills away from sixth.
--Olson is at 1,769 set assists, ranking her eighth all-time.
NSIC Players of the Week
Ness became the first MSUM player to earn NSIC Player of the Week honors this season, and has earned the Defensive Player of the Week honors four times (Sept. 4, 10, 24 and Oct. 1), most of any player.
NSIC preseason poll
The Dragons were picked to finish seventh in the NSIC preseason coaches poll. The Dragons received 146 votes in the poll, just five away from sixth-place Augustana. Defending national champion Concordia led the poll with 225 points and 15 first-place votes. The regular-season champion will be determined by a 20-game conference schedule and will host the top eight teams qualifying in the NSIC tournament, to be held on Nov. 16-18.
