After a five-game road stretch, UMD volleyball returned home this weekend to take on the Minnesota State University-Mankato Mavericks in the “Pink Game” in honor of Breast Cancer awareness. The Bulldogs had little trouble with their Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference rival, beating them in straight sets. Mariah Scharf had a big game, earning a .516 hitting percentage that went along with a team-high 17 kills. Ashley Hinsch had another strong showing with 40 assists, and captain Julie Rainey got some help in the digs department from Katie Ledwell, who led the team with 13 digs to go along with two aces.
Following their victory against the Mavericks the Bulldogs shifted their focus to No. 3 Concordia-St. Paul, who looked to be their toughest competition since the University of Tampa in the Colorado Premier tournament. The Bulldogs would go on to pull off their most impressive victory in front of an electrifying crowd. Rainey appreciated the support from the UMD faithful.
“It’s so great to have fall season athletes coming and actually cheering,” Rainey said. “They bring an environment to the games that everyone enjoys. Little kids bring things for us to sign after the games. It just makes you feel so supported. It’s awesome to have a big wild crowd too; it helps keep up the intensity and keeps us going.”
The Bulldogs were in need of fan support when the game went to extra points during the first set — and they got it with fans standing and cheering throughout the overtime period. Rainey kept her teammates calm during the chaotic overtime.
“Everyone just needs to stay calm and do what you do in practice,” Rainey said. “When you get down to extra points it comes down to who can control the ball better, and that’s why we were able to pull that win off.”
With Rainey’s leadership and strong support from the crowd, the Bulldogs rallied back and beat Concordia 29-27 in the first set. They carried this momentum into the locker room holding a 2-0 set lead, but Coach Boos kept their focus on what they needed to do in order to win the elusive third set.
“He talked a lot about spreading the ball around evenly to each player,” Rainey said. “We were passing okay but we weren’t passing great, so that was one of our focuses for the third game. He said to continue to serve hard, and Aly Kujawa did a great job of coming in and serving tough right away.”
Their fired-up attitude was evident in the convincing third set victory, in which they jumped out to a commanding lead that Concordia couldn’t battle back from. The momentum seemed to carry over from the locker room, and Rainey pointed out that momentum is really the key to winning.
“Sometimes you come out hot and sometimes you come out a little slow,” Rainey said. “Volleyball is all about momentum, and when you have it you have it and when you don’t you don’t.“
With a 25-17 third-set win, there’s no question that the Bulldogs had “it.” They will look to carry over this momentum into next week’s matches, beginning Tuesday. Bemidji State University, the University of Mary, and Minot State University will all be visiting Romano Gym in hopes of dethroning the current NSIC leader.
BY JAKE PRZYTARSKI Statesman Correspondent