BY SAM GAZZOLA | Statesman Correspondent | The Statesman
The Bulldog volleyball team’s eight-game winning streak was finally halted this weekend, but their positive momentum continues to build as they return to Romano gym for a three-game homestand.
Two teams who are trending upward will clash Friday when U-Mary (3-2 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) comes to do battle with the Bulldogs. The Marauders appear confident as they have won three games in a row and six of their last eight matches.
They are also fresh off a sweep of Bemidji State. This will be the Bulldogs’ strongest test of the weekend as their Saturday opponent, Minot State, has yet to win a NSIC game.
UMD will have to come out stronger than last week when they dropped their first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game of the season last Friday against undefeated No. 19 Northern State University in straight sets. Despite losing their first game in over two weeks, the Bulldogs were able to bounce back and beat MSU-Moorhead less than 24 hours later in straight sets. They are now 4-1 in NSIC play and 11-2 overall.
“Going 1-1 on the road trip, is that what you want? No. But after you lose Friday night you’ve got to find a way to win Saturday, and that’s what we did,” Head Coach Jim Boos said.
On a night when the Wolves showed up to impress their home crowd, the Bulldogs came out flat. NSU made a statement early on in the match by winning the first set 25-10. UMD’s previous low score in a 25-point set was 17. The remaining two sets resulted in scores of 25-21 and 25-22.
The Bulldogs had an uncharacteristic night, especially on offense.
“Northern State played extremely well … and we did a very poor job of disrupting their rhythm. So they were able to do whatever they wanted to do offensively. We just didn’t handle it very well,” Boos said.”
In the first set their hitting percentage was .000 on 23 attempts. They have only made fewer attempts one time this season. The Bulldogs finished with a hitting percentage of .204. NSU was more than twice as productive with a final percentage of .421, which was down from an amazing percentage of .520 in the opening frame.
Saturday proved to be a better day for the Bulldogs. They were able to immediately put the loss behind them and sweep the Dragons to cap their weekend road trip. Despite the 3-0 win, UMD committed 22 errors, which is actually six more than they had in their loss to NSU.
“It happens … But if you’re getting two kills for every one error you’re still going to find a way to win,” Boos said.
Senior outside hitter Mariah Scharf led the match with 16 kills. Junior OH Taylor Wissbroecker collected 10 kills along with two service aces. Freshman libero Erin Schindler also led the floor with 16 digs.