GOLDEN, Colo. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead volleyball team finished the weekend strong with a pair of sweeps at the Oredigger Classic in Golden, Colo., on Saturday. MSUM swept Bentley, 25-11, 25-13, 25-15 and Dominican (Calif.), 25-11, 25-12, 25-16.

The Dragons are now 2-2 on the season.

In the sweep of Bentley, Junior Kaitlin VanWinkle had an excellent all-around match for the Dragons. She hit .583 with 15 kills and added five block assists and a solo block. Junior Abby Wolpern  also was solid with 10 kills, hitting an impressive .692.

Junior Casie Baer had 21 set assists while junior Amber Krenske had 13 digs. Freshman Sydney Foss added 11.
MSUM was dominant from the start against Bentley. The Dragons took a 10-4 lead, in large part because of three kills and a block assist from VanWinkle. Foss and Baer had each a service ace. The Dragons were never challenged the rest of the way in a 25-11 win.

The second set was close at 12-8 before the Dragons exploded to stretch the lead to 19-9, thanks to a 7-1 spurt. That spurt was sparked by kills from Wolpern, VanWinkle and senior Maggie Gruber. MSUM cruised to a 25-13 after that run.

The third set was more of the same as the Dragons jumped out quickly to take a 14-4 lead. VanWinkle had three kills and junior Morgan Gradishar added two. The lead never dropped below eight the rest of the set as MSUM completed the sweep with a 25-15 win.

Sophomore Kelsey Hartkopf and junior Maggie Gruber each had five block assists, while redshirt freshman Claire Grimm had four.

Wolpern paced MSUM in the sweep of Dominican with 11 kills, while Grimm had a career-high 10 while hitting .474. Baer had 18 set assists while junior Sam Sullivan had 13. Foss had 12 digs while Wolpern and Krenske added 10 each.

The match was very similar to the Bentley match for MSUM. The Dragons held a 7-6 lead but stretched the lead to 21-8 thanks to a 13-2 run. They spread the hitting around during that run with five different players recording kills, led by Gruber with two. Krenske added a service ace. MSUM was never threatened in a 25-11 win.

The Dragons continued that momentum in the second set, rolling to a 16-5 lead. Grimm started the run with three straight kills, finishing with six total in that spurt, while VanWinkle had a kill and a service ace. From there, MSUM rolled to a 25-12 win.

Wolpern and VanWinkle teamed up to help MSUM cruise in the third set as well. Wolpern had six kills in the set while hitting .556 while VanWinkle had four kills and three block assists as the Dragons rolled to a 25-16 win.
Vanwinkle finished with seven kills, one solo block and three block assists. Gruber added seven kills.

MSUM is back in action at the NSIC Challenge next week in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Dragons will face Fort Hays State (Kan.) at 2 p.m. on Friday to open the tournament.