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MOORHEAD, Minn. -- After a 2-1 week, the Minnesota State University Moorhead volleyball team returns home for a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matches this weekend. The Dragons play host to No. 10-ranked Wayne State on Friday night at 7 p.m. and conclude the weekend with a match against Augustana at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
MSUM and Wayne State will meet for a 38th time with the Wildcats holding a 21-16 series lead. The Dragons will meet Augustana for 23rd time with the Vikings leading the series 17-6. MSUM lost to Wayne State at home in four sets on Oct. 20, 2012, while losing a five-set heartbreaker to Augustana the previous night.
About MSU Moorhead
MSUM went 2-1 in conference action last week. The Dragons beat Northern State in four sets on Sept. 24, and followed with a four-set road win over Sioux Falls on Sept. 28. MSUM was swept by then-No. 9 ranked Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday to wrap up the weekend. Sophomore
Kaitlin VanWinkle, the NSIC Defensive Player of the Week last week, leads MSUM in kills (148), hitting percentage (.356) and total blocks (65). She is ranked 11th in the nation in blocks per set at 1.27 and is first in the conference in that category. Junior
Maggie Gruber continues to have a solid season for MSUM with 126 kills; she is second on the team with 41 blocks. Junior
Annie Palmquist had a strong week from her outside hitting spot last week and is third on the team with 120 kills. Sophomore setter
Casie Baer has 258 assists, while junior
Sam Sullivan has 256. Freshman
Katie Meyers, who leads the team with 19 set assists, as a team-best 175 digs. As a team, the Dragons hit .203 while their opponents are hitting just .152 against them.
Tammy Blake is in her 19th season as MSUM's head coach with a record of 327-242 at the school.
About Wayne State
No. 10-ranked Wayne State is 11-2 overall and 3-2 in the NSIC. The Wildcats swept Minot State and Mary at home last weekend. Cori Hobbs leads the Wildcats with 169 kills, averaging 3.93 per set, while Alyssa Frauendorfer has 113. Leisa McClintock has 462 set assists for Wayne State, which is hitting. 239 as a team. Katie Hughes leads the Wildcat defense with 218 digs, while Frauendorfer has 36 total blocks. Scott Kneifl is in his ninth season as Wayne State's head coach with a record of 213-72.
About Augustana
The Vikings, who are receiving votes in the latest AVCA Division II coaches poll, are 11-2 overall and 3-2 in the NSIC. They swept Mary and beat Minot in four sets in action last weekend at home. The Vikings have a solid 1-2 punch in their hitting corps, led by Courtney Ysker with 191 kills and Holly Hafemeyer at 185. Marissa Johnson has 582 set assists for Augie, which is hitting an impressive .303 as a team. Kayla Wallerich leads the Vikings with 183 digs, while Hafemeyer has posted an impressive 56 total blocks. Ashley Buckley is in her sixth season as Wayne State's head coach with a record of 95-71 at the school.
Last week's highlights
Annie Palmquist (OH, 5-10, Jr., Grantsburg, Wis./Grantsburg HS) led the Dragons at 2.82 kills per set on the week, hitting .195 in 82 attack attempts. She had a season-high 17 kills during the Dragons' four-set win at Sioux Falls on Sept. 27. She hit .325 in 40 attack attempts. She also added nine assisted blocks on the week. She is averaging 2.35 kills per set this season.
Kaitlin VanWinkle (MB, 5-11, So., Farmington, Minn./Lakeville South HS) had an impressive week blocking for the Dragons in helping them to a 2-1 mark in NSIC matches. VanWinkle averaged 2.09 blocks per set. She had a season-high nine block assists in MSUM's four-set win over Sioux Falls on Sept. 27. In a four-set win over Northern State on Tuesday, VanWinkle had six assisted blocks and one solo block, and in a loss at No. 9-ranked Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday, also had six assisted blocks and one solo block. She is averaging a team-best 1.27 blocks per set this season.
Casie Baer (S, 5-8, So., Canby, Minn./Canby HS) paced the Dragons' two-setter attack with 65 assists on the week, including 29 assists in MSUM's four-set win over Northern State on Sept. 24. She added 22 set assists in the win over USF three days later. Baer also had 25 digs. For the season, Baer is averaging 5.06 assists per set and 1.88 digs per set.
