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What's Ahead
MOORHEAD, Minn. – Entering the last week of the season, the Minnesota State University Moorhead volleyball team will conclude its 2014 campaign with two home matches against Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State Mankato. The Dragons are 3-5 at Nemzek Fieldhouse this season and 0-1 in November.
Starting off on Friday night, MSUM will play host to the No. 3-ranked team in the AVCA Division II Coaches Poll, Concordia-St. Paul. In 30 all-time meetings, the Golden Bears hold a 24-6 advantage over the Dragons. On Sept. 20 this year, CSP defeated MSUM in three sets in St. Paul. Junior Kaitlin VanWinkle had nine kills while senior Sam Sullivan posted 13 assists and six digs in the defeat. The Golden Bears enter the weekend with a 23-3 record and have won their past eight matches, seven coming by the way of a sweep or four set victory. Last week, CSP swept Minnesota State Mankato, Minot State, and Mary. The Golden Bears are hitting a remarkable .309 as a team this season, the top mark in the conference by .014 percentage points. Leading the team in hitting is sophomore middle blocker Riley Hanson who is hitting .417 in 563 attack attempts and has 295 kills. Junior outside hitter Anna Schlaak leads the team in kills with 334. On the defensive side, junior middle blocker Heather Schiller is third in the conference with 1.14 blocks per set and 103 total blocks on the season.
To finish off the season, Minnesota State Mankato will head to Moorhead and take on the Dragons on Saturday afternoon. The Mavericks lead the all-time series over the Dragons 22-10. On Sept. 19, the Dragons lost a heartbreaking match to MSU when the Mavericks stormed back to a victory after dropping the first two sets. VanWinkle posted 14 kills and hit .370 in 27 attack attempts while junior Casie Baer had 26 assists in the loss. The Mavericks are currently in sixth place in the NSIC with a record of 12-6, but have not clinched a spot in the postseason tournament yet, needing one more victory to secure a spot in the tournament. Last week, Concordida-St. Paul defeated MSU before the Mavericks swept Mary and Minot State over the weekend. The Mavericks setters rank third in the conference as a team with 13.32 assists per set. Junior setter Ellie Van De Steeg leads the Maverick offense with 1,121 assists and 11.80 per set. Sophomore Krista Hassing leads the team in kills and blocks with 349 (3.67 per set) and 84 (0.88 per set), respectively.
A Look Back at Last Week
Last week, MSUM dropped three home matches. On Tuesday, the Dragons fell to Northern State in four sets. On Friday, Upper Iowa outlasted MSUM in a marathon five-set match. Finally, on Saturday, Winona State swept the Dragons in three sets.
In a mid-week rivalry game, Northern State defeated MSUM in four sets on Tuesday night. VanWinkle hammered home 15 kills and hit .395 in the match to lead the Dragons. Baer added 26 assists and junior Amber Krenske had 26 digs. MSUM lead at 20-19 in the first set before NSU rallied and took the set 25-21. The Dragons scored the first four points of the second set and utilized runs of three, three, and four points to open a lead and snagged the set 25-14. MSUM fell behind 9-4 in the third set and the Wolves grabbed the set 25-18. NSU used the momentum from the third set to open another early lead in the fourth set and took the deciding fourth set 25-19.
On Friday night, sophomore Kelsey Hartkopf played arguably her best game in her career as a Dragon with 10 total blocks and three kills, but Upper Iowa came away with the five set victory. VanWinkle added 18 kills, junior Morgan Gradishar had 12 kills, and Krenske had 30 digs. The Dragons led in the first set at 14-13, but came up a little short at 25-22. Upper Iowa lead at 23-21 in the second set before the Dragons scored four straight points to take the set 25-21. The Dragons lead for the majority of the third set until the Peacocks took a lead at 15-14 and took the set 25-21. MSUM was down 6-0 and 10-4 in the fourth set when the Dragons rattled off six straight points to tie the set score at 10. Senior Maggie Gruber and Gradishar combined for a block to give MSUM the set 25-23. The fifth set was tightly contested until UIU grabbed a lead at 7-6 and went on to win 15-10.
Finally, on Saturday afternoon the Dragons were defeated by Winona State in three sets. VanWinkle posted 12 kills while Baer had 17 assists. MSUM lead at 7-5 in the first set, but the Warriors scored 10 of the next 13 points to lead 15-9 and took the set 25-21. The Warriors used that momentum to grab an 8-2 lead in the second set and won the set 25-14. The third set remained close and the Dragons lead 13-12, but Winona State took the match after taking the third set 25-18.
Hartkopf Posts Career High in Blocks
Sophomore Kelsey Hartkopf set a career high in blocks on Friday night in the five set match against Upper Iowa. Hartkopf posted 10 total blocks, three higher than her previous best of seven against South Dakota Tech on Sept. 12 of this season. Hartkopf has been tough at the net all season for the Dragons, helping MSUM rank fifth in the NSIC in blocks per set at 2.12. She has posted 0.89 blocks per set individually and has amassed 82 total blocks this season (eight solo blocks, 74 block assists), second only behind Kaitlin VanWinkle's 99. With fellow middle blocker Maggie Gruber graduating after this season, Harftkopf role on the Dragon defense appears to be in preparation of growing next season.
Krenske Bounces Back Strong
Despite missing seven matches in the middle of the season due to a knee injury, junior Amber Krenske has led the back row defense of the Dragons all season with 347 digs. She has averaged 4.96 digs per set, good enough to be ranked third in the conference. In her seven matches since returning, Krenske has posted double-digit digs in each match, including 30 in the match against Upper Iowa on Friday. In her Dragon career, Krenske has 1,015 digs, which is currently 266 behind No. 10 in the MSUM Record Book, Shawnette VanderWolde (1992-95), who had 1,281 digs.
