UMD Volleyball Team Survives Major Test
UMD’s volleyball team has been so strong for the past few seasons that it has become close to a certainty that they will polish off most Northern Sun opponents. Kate Lange, UMD’s formidable leading hitter, can be routinely expected to hammer spike after spike past foes on the way to leading the Bulldogs to victory.
So after rolling up victories in their first 10 matches, the Bulldogs were a big favorite last Saturday afternoon against Minnesota State-Moorhead at Romano Gym.
As in all sports, however, there is no such thing as a cinch. Even great players can’t play great all the time, and MSU-Moorhead was well-prepared to contain Lange and the Bulldogs. Without question, Lange was not in her usual All-American form.
“And yet her statistics would have been good for most players,” said coach Jim Boos. “That is the best defensive team in the league, and we didn’t have a very good night serving and with our first service-receiving. We got out of our system so much that it made it a struggle.”
The Bulldogs had a tough battle to win the first set 25-19, and of UMD’s 15 kills, Lange swatted five of them, but she missed a few others. Credit the Dragons defensive blocking. Fortunately, UMD’s willing support system already was chipping in. Kalli Lochner added four kills and three other Bulldogs had two apiece.
In the second set, MSU-Moorhead did an impressive job of stifling the entire UMD front line, and beat UMD 25-16 with a series of cleverly placed kills. Lochner again had four kills, but Lange was one of four UMD players who recorded the next-best two kills, as UMD recorded only 13 total kills.
It was apparent UMD was in for a battle, perhaps its toughest battle of the season, even though there it’s just midseason. The Bulldogs held the lead early in the third set, until it was 15-15, at which time the Dragons appeared to take charge, edging ahead 17-15, in the pivotal set. A kill by Lochner brought UMD within 20-19. But MSU-Moorhead went on a run, keyed by its defense, and went up 24-20.
With the Dragons needing only one more point to take the set and gain a pivotal 2-1 lead, the Bulldogs finally got untracked with set-up artist Ashley Hinsch serving. Lange hammered a kill, assisted by Hinsch, and then another, and the Dragons took a time out when at 24-22. Play resumed, Hinsch served again and then assisted Lange’s spike through the defense to make it 24-23. Hinsch served again and Moorhead couldn’t return it. Then she served an ace, and UMD inched ahead 25-24. One more serve by Hinsch, and she moved up to set for Monica Turner, who hammered home the winner and UMD escaped with a 26-24 victory.
Lochner was having an outstanding night on the right side up front, and at one point she had key blocks or spikes on about a half dozen straight UMD points or side-outs. In the rotation, Lochner only plays up front, so when it’s her turn to serve, she goes to the sideline in the Jim Boos strategy. At that time, Turner comes in at the left side of the front row, and she, too, had a solid performance with key blocks and kills.
In the third set, Lange struggled for eight kills out of an amazing 19 total attacks, which equated to a percentage of only .211. Turner had six kills and a percentage of .400, while Lochner had three, with a .429 percentage.
But MSU-Moorhead wasn’t going to fold. By then a gang of oddball Dragon fans, mostly guys wearing only body paint from the waist up, were putting on a rowdy show of support for the visitors. They organized their own cheers, and actually drew applause from some UMD fans who might have been confused about who the group was cheering for.
Any momentum UMD carried into the fourth set was spent holding every lead until MSU-Moorhead continued to counter, and it was a 7-7 standoff. Then it was the Dragons turn, holding every lead until UMD had to rally for a 15-all tie. From then on, the Dragons stayed ahead, rallying to gain a 20-17 lead, and when UMD closed to 20-19, MSU-Moorhead scored four straight points and five of six to win 25-20 to square the match at 2-2.
Lange came back strong in the frustrating fourth set, with 11 of UMD’s 16 kills and a .444 hitting percentage, while Turner and Lochner never got untracked and had only one kill each.
The fifth and deciding set, which goes only to 15, fell into UMD’s hands early, as the Bulldogs jumped ahead 4-0, although when it got to 6-1, MSU=Moorhead came back strong, closing the gap to 6-5 and 7-6. However, UMD then showed the ability to play defense, too, and beat the Dragons at their own game, scoring five straight points as the Dragons suffered a string of attack errors. They tried again, closing from 13-7 to 13-9, but after a UMD timeout, the Bulldogs got kills from Mariah Scharf, Annie Palmquist, and a final blast from Lange, and won the set 15-11.
For the match, Lange had 29 kills and a .266 percentage that would be good for a normal player, but was below her usual. Lochner had 12 kills and a .393 percentage, and Turner also had 12 with a .231 percentage. Maddy Siroin came through with 10 total kills and a .333 percentage, but for the match, UMD’s team percentage was only .249, but they held MSU-Moorhead to only 56 kills and a .208 percentage. Turner led the Bulldogs with seven total blocks.
Score one for the Bulldog defense.
“It feels good, when the defense comes through like that,” said Lochner. “Especially in the fifth game, when we needed it.”
Boos said the match was “the toughest of our first 11, and we knew it would be a challenge.
“Kalli and Monica both are huge parts of our team, and both were all-tournament last year,” Boos added. What was left unsaid was that it’s a major step when a team can be off its game and still survive the scare from a very good opponent and come away with a victory.
GREENVILLE, WHO?
Football fans in the Duluth area may not yet be familiar with Greenville’s Division III football team, but consider the Panthers were unanimous pick to win the UMAC conference last season. St. Scholastica went to their place and held on for a 30-26 victory, en route to an undefeated season championship, the first for the Saints, in only their fourth season.
This season, Greenville again was picked to win the UMAC. Furthermore, they were the last team to beat St. Scholastica, two seasons ago, in a 35-7 game at Public Schools Stadium. So it was a perfect setting for Greenville to come to Malosky Stadium to face the Saints for this year’s homecoming.
Perhaps even the Panthers are believers now. Tyler Harper, a 5-foot-8 sophomore, is the new Saints quarterback this season, and he proved he has matured to take charge after an opening loss by beating Eureka last week, and bedeviling the Panthers defense Saturday.
The Saints led 24-0 at halftime, with Harper scoring the first touichdown on a 13-yard run, passing 10 yards to Cory Gebhard for a 14-0 first-quarter lead, then turning Jake Jensen loose for his first of two touchdowns and setting the stage for Mike Theismann’s 19-yard field goal for the 24-0 lead.
Greenville was stopped and had to settle for a 27-yard field goal by Josh Frewin to open the third quarter, but it was countered by Jensen crashing through a large hole from the 1, and then, in the fourth quarter, Harper plunged in from the 1, and Mike LaValley -- a junior from Superior -- stepped up into the flat for an interception, and raced down the right sideline, right past the Greenville bench, for a 73-yard run for the closing touchdown and the 45-3 finish.
UMD ROMPS IN
2ND HALF
Will Steger gained great fame by making a trek to the North Pole. John Steger, who is no relation, may have established some personal record last Saturday by watching his UMD defense wander around in SeaFoam Field’s version of the wilderness for half of the game, when the Bulldogs were clinging to an improbable 35-24 lead over Concordia University of St. Paul.
At halftime, John Steger, UMD’s defensive coordinator, got everything back in order. The Bulldogs, after a 35-24 first half, reeled off a 35-0 second half and romped 70-24.
In the process, senior quarterback Chase Vogler, who has seen it all and done it all, just kept putting up points, awaiting the crystallizing defense. Vogler, who is always considered a better running threat than passing threat, was both. He ran for 100 yards and two touchdowns in 10 carries, and he connected on 22 of 26 passes for three more touchdowns and 296 yards.
That earned Vogler Northern Sun player of the week honors and assured UMD of maintaining the No. 2 spot in the Division II rankings, behind defending champion Pittsburg, of Kansas.
UMD returns to Malosky Stadium to face Augustana Saturday at 6 p.m.
HOCKEY BEGINS
No, there’s no NHL hockey yet, because of a lockout between the players association and the owners, and while UMD’s women open play with an exhibition next week, the UMD men won’t be starting until October 12-13, but hockey in the Northland started last weekend, with the Clyde Iron Cup, a tournament throwing four USHL junior teams together for two days of high-tempo exhibition games.
Brett Larson, a valuable assistant on UMD’s NCAA title-winning team two years ago, is in his second year as head coach of the Sioux City Musketeers, and Larson, a former Denfeld and UMD defenseman, has retained his Northern Minnesota connection. He has winger Jared Thomas and defenseman Jared Kolquist from Hermantown’s state runnerup, and along with Josh Erickson from Roseau, Larson has a pair of Hill-Murray state tournament stars in center Jake Guentzel and defenseman Blake Heinrich. Both are passing up their senior year to play at Sioux City.
“I’ve never been a proponent of taking guys out of high school,” said Larson. “I put no pressure on either one of them, but they both wanted to come down and play for us, and they’ve played very well. Half our team is brand new from last year, and I’m really excited about Heinrich’s play.”
Sioux City beat defending USHL champion Green Bay 7-5 last Friday night, before over 1,000 fans, and after Tri City had beaten Lincoln 3-0. Saturday afternoon, Lincoln won 5-0 over Green Bay, which has Trevor Olson from last year’s Duluth East team. Then Sioux City and Tri City battled to a 2-2 tie that withstood a 5-minute overtime, before Tri City finally won 3-2 in a shootout.
Junior hockey used to be known for its mauling, brawling style, but the tournament showed how times have changed. High speed, high intensity, and tough but clean play was the feature of all the games. And it was great to be able to attend a hockey game wearing shorts, a polo shirt and sandals.
