Injuries - It's Almost Laughable at this Point

Our ride on the roller coaster seems to have no end. As the positives present themselves some tragedy strikes. We came into this past week with some confidence and a feeling that we could battle some demons that have been haunting us since the 2nd week of the season. I have thought that since the last time we played Dakota State at the Corn Palace and lost in 5 that we haven't been able to find our groove as a team. That particular match stole our mojo and we have been searching for it ever since. Well the opportunity to avenge the loss and basically face the "demon" that scared off our confidence came around this past week. We went to Dakota State in a great mental state knowing that that day could be very special. We came out in the match so well, taking the first set and what we thought was the momentum for the match. However, our harnesses from the "roller coaster" tightened up on us and we gave away around 16 errors in the 2nd set to basically hand over set 2. After some major refocusing we came out and battled hard to a 3rd set victory. DSU however was not ready to let go of the match as both teams again battled in the 4th. We had a substantial 5 point lead at a point in the 4th but couldn't hold them as they finished on a 6 point run to end the 4th. I was pleased to hear and see in between the 4th and 5th set that our team was ready to take over the match. They spoke confidently and had a swagger about them as they headed back onto the court. Then all as the 3rd point of the 5th set is scored by senior MH Kacie Sanderson, the dreaded monster that has plagued us all year strikes again as Kacie injuries her knee and cannot return for the match (and remainder of the year). This time our lineup had to adjust in the middle of the match with no preparation. This group of young ladies did not let this setback affect them as they battled for the entire 5th set and even held a match point or 2. We just couldn't escape ourselves as we committed errors in those situations to give the ball back to DSU and force ourselves to scramble to the finish. We couldn't pull out the win and again it was devastating.

We tried to refocus and prepare ourselves for the next match against Midland for our Dig Pink match that was held at Mitchell HS in conjunction with their Dig Pink match. Here is where all of these injuries and illnesses truly become laughable, our starting sophomore MH Rachel has trouble breathing and talking before the match and has to be limited with the amount of movement we can use her while on the court. Our primary hitting option is now limited, haha it just never ends. Midland however was a very solid team and our injury ridden lineup could only hang with them for 2 of the 3 sets played. We had some opportunities to win the 1st set as we lost 23-25 and the 2nd set I believe went to 21 for us. We compete hard and continue to fight.

My phrase for the season has unfortunately been "Of course that would happen now", we haven't seemed to be able to catch a single break in close sets, matches, injuries or illnesses. It is absolutely laughable at this point in time. Any prayers and wishful thoughts that anyone that reads this would like to pass along to our players, we would all greatly appreciate them. (heck any healthy bodies would be nice right now, too. LOL)

We have competed so hard and have made so many adjustments to lineups and tactics that we still believe that we will get off of this losing streak. IT WILL HAPPEN!

The Roller Coaster Continues

It has been a week and half of matches since our last post and ups and downs of playing inexperienced and young players is taking its toll. I will say that this group of ladies are fighters and play with a lot of energy to never give up. We will come up with something shocking here in the next few weeks. I believe it is in us.

We have had 4 conference matches and 1 non-conference match in the past 2 weeks. The conference match ups were not friendly to us as we played 4 of the top 6 teams in the conference. In every match we had some great competitive moments of controlling play for 2/3 of sets and even taking a set but we just seemed to run out of offensive firepower at the end of sets when you need it the most. Every match we played the past 2 weeks has come down to untimely errors on our part. Missed serves after already giving up a 4 point run. Attacking balls in the net or out of bounds on free ball opportunities. Not focusing on the key attackers of the opponent during situations where they need a crucial point. It keeps coming back to inexperience in big game situations, we will continue to grow and I believe that we will get better in this situations this upcoming week. WE HAVE TO!

One performance in the past 2 weeks that needs to be applauded is Rachel Tinklenberg while we were at York this past weekend. She had 24 kills and 3.5 blocks in the match and at a couple of different times in the match she would get 4 kills in a row. She carried our team to a near match victory as we did have match point in the 4th set. However the team could not overcome the 69 errors we committed in the match.

Our roller coaster of positive and negative experiences on the court is continuing this fall. As much as I love real life roller coasters I would really like to get off of this one. This group of young ladies will continue to fight and never give up. They will continue to believe they can reach their goals and achieve great things. I believe in them and will continue to work my hardest everyday to give them more competitive experiences in practice and prepare them for the rigors of the home stretch of our very competitive conference schedule. WE WILL NEVER QUIT ON OURSELVES OR EACH OTHER!!!!

- Coach V

Errors and Injuries - 2 Things Not Good for a Young Team

Hey everyone,
Sorry for the delay in getting some information up here. It has been and extremely hectic 2 weeks. We have gone through some extreme emotional situations over the past 2 weeks and we are truly just starting the recovery and rebuilding process.

Since my last time on here we were at 7-6 and just prior to that we were 7-3 on the season. I am sad to say that the left column hasn't changed in the past 2 weeks and we are now sitting at 7-13 on the season. We have battled hard in most of the matches and had to change our lineups for numerous situations. Coming out of the Viterbo tournament we felt that we were close to getting our consistency figured out on offense and just needed a little bit of pure focus on certain areas of our game to get things running smoothly again. We entered into conference play that week against Dordt and unfortunately our SR passing was not consistent to allow us to get our primary hitters involved in a faster tempo offense to keep their big block split more often and ended up dropping the match 0-3. We had the weekend off to let the team refocus and get away from volleyball for a little bit and be able to come back with a renewed passion and eagerness to learn. Our 3 practices heading into our next conference match against Morningside were highly competitive and intense, we had confidence. We battled during the first set and felt that we let the first set slip away from us with some untimely errors at the end of the set. We then ran into the buzz saw of the Morningside offense as they went through the next 2 sets without committing a single attacking error (there is no one in the country that can beat a team that doesn't commit errors).

We understood that our first 2 opponents for conference play were high quality teams and matches that we were the considered the underdogs. We approached the weekend knowing that our opponent, Concordia, had been playing well and that our two teams were evenly matched. It was going to be a very tough match for both teams. Each team traded sets all the way up to the 5th set and most of the sets were close outside of our 2nd set victory where controlled all of the play to a 25-15 win. I knew that we were the more talented team at that time but hoped that our inability to play consistently was gone for the day. Set 3 both teams played well but they outlasted us. In Set 4 we played better statistically but they fought to keep it close. Then in the 5th, the error bug bit us and bit us in a major way. We opened up the 5th with 5 or 6 straight unforced errors and put ourselves in a major hole that we weren't able to get out of and went on to lose the 5th set. It was crushing lose to us knowing we had an opportunity to close them out and couldn't do it. The worst part for me as a coach is looking at the statistics and seeing that nearly all of the stat categories we won, just not the one that counts, the game scores. I left the gym wondering if a match like this would have a hangover affect on our team. I would get to find out the next week as we went to face Mt. Marty.

Let me preface this next section by saying that this could could be one of the toughest weeks to ever go through as a coach or player.

Even to this day I believe that we are leaps and bounds much better than Mt. Marty and have and incredible amount of talent and athleticism over them. However, on the night we played them it had to be the worst match we have ever played. We committed a total of 55 to 60 errors in the 4 sets we played. Yes, we gave them 2 sets worth of points in our own errors. It was one of the more disappointing matches I have ever been involved in and it was heartbreaking to the team as well. The recovery process was going to be long and the demeanor of the team needed to change as well as the lineup. So we approached the next day at practice (with only 1 day to prepare for the next match) with an intense team meeting and a complete refocus on accountability on the court. I felt good about the meeting and the response from the team in their understanding of the new goals set ahead of them. Then the chaos and adversity we thought we had just gotten past hit square in the face as our senior OH, went down from landing awkwardly after an attack to a devastating knee injury. The positive energy and emotion we had flowing in the gym came to a screeching halt in a matter of seconds. Our thoughts about preparation for USF went directly to concern for her; we had once again lost our focus on the task at hand. As we continued with practice the need for a new lineup was absolutely necessary as we now had to figure out how to fill the hole left by the injury and who would be able to pick up the slack as now our 2nd leading attacker was most likely done for the season. We took the rest of practice not preparing for USF but figuring out which lineup would give us the best shot at competing the next night. We entered into the match against USF knowing we were just trying to figure things out and hoping to play well. We started the match very slow but managed to nearly find a way to win the first as we held a lead very late in the set around 25-24 but then went on to lose the set 27-29. Heart, fight, guts whatever you want to call, we showed it in the first set and were hoping to continue that trend through the rest of the match. The 2nd set was similar albeit that we stayed close for nearly the entire set and didn't let up, but then the error bug bit us again and we dropped the 2nd set 19-25 and the 3rd set was filled with unforced errors that not even our defense could remedy to help extend rallies. We spoke after the match about what qualities we need to have with the team as we go forward knowing that we were needing to change lineups and do things we did not plan at the beginning of the year. It was a positive meeting and we all had an understanding about what needed to come from each person to get back on track.

We then tried to prepare for the weekend as we were making a trip to ND to face Jamestown and Valley City. Our main focus heading into the weekend and from here on out is to fight for every point, extend rallies and with play with great intensity. We played Jamestown on Saturday hearing the chatter in stands they believed that the match was going to go 3 and be the fastest match in their history. Well the first set certainly gave that indicator as we committed around 16 errors and they were errors that we had control over. We took the between game time to emphasize our decision making that was causing the errors and came out and absolutely dominated play for the first 2/3 of the 2nd set. We minimized our errors to where we stayed away from committing 3 or 4 in a row. We gave away 1 run of 4 or 5 points late in the set that got them kind of back in the set but we closed them out at 25-21 (it wasn't really that close until the last mini run by them). We were proving to ourselves that no matter who play if we limit the scoring runs we give on our own errors we can play with and beat anyone. It felt great. But could we do it in back to back sets? The answer unfortunately was no as we went on to commit 16 errors again in the 3rd set and 11 errors in the 4th set. When we keep the amount of errors to 10 or less in any given set we have won nearly all of those sets this season. The Valley City match ended up being a lot of the same from the week, we committed numerous errors in a row early in sets and then had to fight back to get back in it. Our set scores were 19, 22 and 23, the team battled so fiercely and I believe we will get this ship righted very soon, as long as we begin to learn how to limit the errors we give away in a row. We also had to deal with our senior MH get extremely sick during the weekend and then could barely play against Valley City. So we had to adjust our lineup again without preparation. We'll see what happens this upcoming week as we get back into conference play and search for the conference win that has eluded us thus far. Wish us luck and wish us healthy.

-Coach V

Our trip to the State of Cheese

So it has been a little bit longer than I wanted it to be that I wrote but for those of you follow our news stories on the website and my occasional twitter posts (@coachviney) you may have an idea why I have been reluctant to, let's say spread the word about the results from the past 2 weeks.

We came out of the Corn Palace Classic not as confident as a team normally should after going 3-1 over that weekend. The 5 set loss to Dakota State took something out of us. We headed to Presentation College in Aberdeen on the 7th knowing we should be able to take care of business relatively quickly. I think for the most part we did (first 2 sets we only allowed 17 and 12 points) but lost some focus in the 3rd set and let them come back and make that set interesting and forcing us to beat them 27-25. A little hectic but we got the job done. A win is a win!

We had another big trip ahead of us for the weekend. A trip to La Crosse, WI at Viterbo University for a tournament. Our 2 players from Green Bay were so looking forward to this trip. I think I have heard enough reasons why Wisconsin is great - so they think HAHA.
Coming in to the season I knew this was going to be a tournament that had the potential to be difficult. My expectation was 2-2 because of the two potential Top 25 teams we were scheduled to face there (Viterbo & Northwestern). How many of you get that feeling the day before or even the day of a competition and you just don't feel right, like something is missing? I unfortunately had that feeling on the Friday morning of the tournament. I tried to shake it all day and come up with all of these confidence building sayings and thoughts. Well my gut must have been telling me something as we entered in to the first match with Waldorf College (who was winless on the season at that time). They played right before our match and were competing so hard defensively just frustrating their opponent. I knew we were about to have the same match with them. Waldorf came out with the confidence of a team that was undefeated, scrapping for every point and making us have to earn every point. It was taxing on the players. Both teams battled back and forth for the first 4 sets and even through the entire 5th set. We finally made a statement and put our stamp on the match at the (I believe) 12-13 score in the 5th set and us being down. Out of the timeout we had a crossing pattern play drawn out to get a potential matchup for Freshman Danielle Bird to take the biggest swing of the season. In the the timeout, I told her to just put the ball away no matter what. Her response was a thunderous kill that blasted the opposing libero in the gut, I swear the gym was filled with the sounds of Danielle's contact of the ball and the ball's contact of the libero's stomach - it was the momentum play we had searched for all match long. We went on to win 17-15 in the 5th.

Our next 3 matches for the weekend were struggles to say the least. Northwestern played at an unbelievable pace that we weren't ready for and stuck it to us. The next morning we thought we had a great chance to get that second win of the tournament against Hannibal-LaGrange. Our offense was inconsistent and we couldn't put together the runs we normally get and lost each set by 2 or 3 points. Here is the hard pill to swallow - Looking at the stat sheets from both teams we had better attacking numbers and blocking numbers as well as more digs. However, HLG committed 6 less errors than we did throughout the match and therefore earned them the win. We finished the tournament by playing #21 at the time Viterbo. They play at a very high tempo with their offense and their setter is extremely accurate and athletic, the key to the team. We opened up the first set with dismal passing and found ourselves in a big double digit hole. But then we caught a break, during a play their setter got injured and had to leave the match. Informing the team of the big break that was just presented to them about the heart of their team now out for potentially the entire match, we had a chance. Our response was positive for the next 2 sets as we pushed Viterbo to change their offense to set players that don't normally get as many swings. I thought we were going to pull out the 3rd set to force a 4th but as it was the entire weekend our offensive efficiency (ability to score points and not just keep balls in play or give away points) held us back from reaching our goals. We did however, leave the tournament with our heads held high knowing that the ability to play good ball is in us and that we just have to demand and expect more from our individual performances to ignite the team.

Our tournament season is over and now we head into the true purpose for our season - the GPAC conference season. Our overall youth has been a slight reason for our ups and downs but we now have to get through the adversity we create and fight our way to the top. The matches we have played are a big part of the experience we need to compete in this great conference. We must now look forward to achieve our goal of finishing in the top 8 of the conference and make it into the conference tournament. The near future is bright this group of women, it is our time to show that youth is not a negative thing when it comes to competition.

- Coach V

Corn Palace Classic Weekend

That was one extremely busy weekend. 6 college teams and 4 HS teams played 14 matches over the Labor Day weekend here in Mitchell. There was great volleyball played by every team that stepped foot on the court at the World's Only Corn Palace. Check out the stats from all of the college matches on our web page specific for the tournament. Congrats to Ethan HS and Mitchell HS for winning their matches on Saturday. They were fun to watch.

Before we go any further I have to give a HUGE THANK YOU to our JV team and other volunteers for operating the scores table, line judging, and ball shagging all weekend. All of you did a fantastic job and worked extremely long hours. I hope the payment of free food all weekend was sufficient.

Looking back at our weekend we finished 3-1, which is a very positive weekend. However, losing your very last match of a tournament against a rival will always leave a sour taste in your mouth. We opened the weekend on Friday playing Dickinson State. They had recently added 2 players that weren't playing the weeks before from suspension and were 2 very athletic OH's. We weren't sure how much they would change their team but after watching them jump out to a commanding 2 set to 0 lead on York in their first match of the tournament it was clear they were very different then what we saw the weekend before when they were out in Montana. They did end up losing some steam and lost in 5 to York but we still saw them as a dangerous team. We came out extremely focused on our game plan to take the line away from one of those hitters and cross court against the other. The execution of our blocking and then the addition of very solid ball control to keep us in system allowed us to dominate play in a 3 set victory, 25-18, 25-14, 25-15. We hit .370 in the match with only 1 attacker having more than 1 attacking error while also averaging 16 digs a set. It was a great overall match both offensively and defensively. It was an exceptional start to the weekend. We got great balanced performances from Larissa Veldhuizen and Danielle Bird while Kacie Sanderson and TyAnn Buddenhagen were extremely efficient attacking the ball with .417 and .556 hitting %'s. Katie Lindow also came in off the bench as a serving specialist to provide an ace and 3 digs.

We finished Friday night with our match against York College. In the previous few years York had always been a team that you could get school records against because of their level of play. Well not anymore, after seeing them come back from 0-2 to win 3-2 against Dickinson, it was very clear they were a team that had some talent, skill and were well coached. Kudos to Coach Fear for really getting things turned around there at York. This match was competitive the entire time. We could not put them away in any set early to give us that breathing space we like to have to close out sets. We took the first 2 sets (25-22 & 25-20 respectively and then York pushed us to the limit to take the 3rd set 25-23. We had to battle hard again in the 4th to finally close out the match 25-21. We did a great job in the serve & serve receive game with 11 aces and only 2 reception errors. We did well at the net with 11 total blocks and 49 kills. Larissa Veldhuizen was the go to player as she recorded a double-double with 14 kills and 16 digs. Katie Lindow again provided some offense with 6 service aces in her serving specialist role. While Sam Sandua continued her consistency for the season with a .238 hitting % and adding 8 kills. And Rachel Tinklenberg hit .300 with 9 kills and added 5 block assists. Tyann Buddenhagen and Briana Jung both provided quality setting and great defense as both were above 15 digs each in the match.

We opened Saturday against Valley City State. This has turned into a big rivalry match over the past 3 seasons. Heading into this match the 2 teams had played 4 times since 2009 with every match going 5 sets. We had a 3-1 record vs. VCSU heading into the match this weekend. It may have also grown into more of a rivalry since the head coach there is my wife's best friend and college teammate. It was a tight match the entire, trading the first 3 sets with us up 2-1 and barely pulling out the 3rd set. We managed to figure out some things with our offensive efficiency for the 4th set to stop the 5 set match streak at 4 and beat VCSU in 4 sets. I can honestly say that looking at the statistics without the scores one would guess VCSU won the match. However, our perseverance through the adversity of not playing as well as we did the day before and against an opponent that wanted the win was extremely key to the victory. We got another double-double out of Larissa Veldhuizen with 13 kills and 13 digs. Brooke Warne provided 20 digs in the match to anchor the defense and Sam Sandau again was Miss consistency with 9 kills with a .350 hitting %. It should be another great match when we go to Valley City the first weekend of Oct.

The last match of the weekend had us facing another rival in Dakota State. They had played some strong volleyball throughout the tournament and I knew they would come out ready to play. Both teams battled hard in the first set to a 25-22 DWU victory. Dak State committed a lot of hitting errors in the first set to help us in that set. We knew that trend would not continue as they are a team that likes to tip and throw the ball around after making mistakes. The 2nd and 3rd set Dakota State pushed themselves out to quick 5 and 6 point leads and never looked back as we looked like deer in headlights during those sets as we could only score 13 and 17 in those sets. The execution of the game plan was non-existence and the focus on the 2 hitters that Dak State uses all of the time was poor. It did not look good for us heading into the 4th set. Again we came out flat in the 4th but fortunately not putting ourselves in too big of hole. Dakota State began to make a few more attacking errors to help us stay close. As we approached the final 5 to 6 points in the set something changed in the attitude of how the team was approaching game and our energy level rose as well as our communication. We clawed our way back to a 23-23 tie and found a way to pull out the 4th to set up what would be a very intense 5th set. The first half of the 5th was back and forth as both teams played well to the 8-7 switch with DWU up. But after the switch of court we lost confidence after back to back throw kills to both deep corners from their MH. They were devastating kills that took the wind out of our sail and unfortunately the aggression out of our game (which will never happen again). It was heart breaking and even to today I have a sour taste in my mouth about how it finished. We did get some good quality performances from Brooke Warne with 25 digs and another double-double from Larissa Veldhuizen with 13 kills and 13 digs again. Other double-doubles recorded were by Danielle Bird with 11 kills and 12 digs and Briana Jung with 24 assists and 15 digs.

Again we'll take the 3-1 record and move on with a lot more learning coming our way about how to stay aggressive the entire time we play and to limit how much the other team can control what we want to do to score points. We head into the first full week of September with a 5-3 record and with a good amount of confidence as we travel to Presentation College in Aberdeen, SD on Wednesday the 7th and then out to Viterbo University in LaCrosse, WI for Sept. 9-10.

Wish us luck.
- Coach V

Out to the West

The first weekend of competition has already come and gone. We took an extended trip out to Wyoming and Montana with both our JV and Varsity. Our JV team played in a tournament at Sheridan College while the varsity team went to Billings, MT to compete at Rocky Mountain College.

The JV team competed hard all weekend and did well considering 6 of the 8 players that were there played out of position. They played 5 matches during the weekend and had some opportunities to take a couple of sets but kind of stalled out at the end of those particular sets. Assistant Coach Dannie Burt coached them all weekend and said that there were a lot of bright spots from Paige VandenMeerendonk who was being forced to play in the middle rather than on a pin where she is more comfortable. There was also a big moment when 5'5" Lacey Reimnitz (playing LS, out of position) went up and crushed a kill down around the 15 ft. mark for a point in the first match of the weekend. They said that you could see the cape behind her as she flew in the air to take the swing. LOL.

Great job ladies.

The varsity team had what we would consider a roller coaster weekend with only one major drop. Fortunately that drop came in the very first match of the year against MT Tech. That's all we'll say about that one. We have decided to go out of sight, out of mind with that match. We then played MT Western and started off slow, most likely an hangover from the previous match, but somewhere in the middle of the 2nd set things picked up with communication and energy level. We still dropped the 2nd set but we could feel a change. That change came out a 5 set match win with some great performances from Larissa Veldhuizen and Danielle Bird. Check out the stats from the online schedule.

We woke up the next morning feeling better about our chances and came to face nationally ranked Rocky Mountain who in the previous weekend had beaten two top 10 teams in straight sets while out in California. We knew we had our hands full. It was a match of big runs, they had a 8 to 9 point run then we had 7 to 8 point run, each team had big runs like that in every set. Although we lost in straight sets we actually built more confidence in ourselves as we continued to look back at how the match was played, we blocked well and forced a team much bigger than us to have to use more tips and roll shots to get points. We also put a lot of pressure on their serve receive passers keeping them out of system for a majority of the match. We finished the weekend off by playing MT State-Northern, who had been playing extremely well all weekend long. It was a hard fought match with us losing the 1st set, winning the next 2 but dropping the 4th. We went into the 5th just feeling as if we have controlled nearly every aspect of the match but just let our focus slip a little in the 4th set. We came out and took control of the 5th after the 8 point switch to win 15-10. It felt amazing to leave the weekend with a win and to have a great feeling from a vast majority of the sets we played.

A lot of confidence is bubbling as the team enters into the first week of September and hosting our own Corn Palace Classic. Check out the schedule for the tournament here.

It is a good start to the season. We expect to continue this climb with confidence over the coming weeks to prepare us for the difficult GPAC schedule ahead.

- COACH V

Crazy Hot Summer

I hope everyone is staying as cool as possible. This heat wave the past few weeks is just unreal. I have been working a few VB camps the past few weeks and I am thinking of starting a nation wide petition to put A/C in every gym in the country (wishful thinking, HAHAHA). There have been some hot ones this summer. My summer camp schedule is almost complete. Only one more in Houston, TX next week, I sure hope La Porte HS has A/C. If not it will still be fun to get to Houston to see my mom and sister and do a high quality camp.

Big news from the AVCA was just announced on July 20. The AVCA Team Academic Award recipient list was released and for the 2nd time in the 10 year history of award the DWU VB program was on the list for the 2010-2011 academic year. We just missed out on the 2009-2010 award by 0.04 points. We were only 1 of 30 NAIA teams to receive the award. The award honors those teams that hold a cumulative team GPA of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale. We are extremely proud of this award and something we hope will be a consistent thing we achieve every year.

I also have started a Twitter account (@coachviney). Go ahead follow this account as I'll be sending out updates from the season as well as the occasional update from my life. Don't worry, I won't be sending out tweets of what kind of cereal I am eating and that my wife's cat got stuck in the cupboard, lol. I'll keep it about volleyball and other cool things like when my son is born in October. Please follow me @coachviney.

The preseason is just around the corner for all of us. I wish every team the best as you go through your preparations for the fall. I'll keep you all updated as we get closer to the start of the season.

Stay Cool.

-Coach V

2011 Recruiting Class Is Officially Finalized

So as we approach July we are complete with the 2011 incoming class for DWU Volleyball. We have signed 3 more players to cap off the recruiting year for 2011.

We have officially added Paige VandenMeerendonk of Green Bay, WI to the roster. Paige is a very strong OH that can hit with a ton of force. She has a pretty high ceiling of potential and will be a great asset for our program over the next 4 seasons. We are excited to have Paige as a Tiger.

Myriah Beiswanger is a DS from Mitchell, SD out of Mt. Vernon HS where she played the libero and OH positions during her career. Myriah will help provide some consistency in our serve receive game. It will be great to have a hometown kid in our program. It has been a while since we have had a Mitchell kid in our program. Myriah will bring a supportive energy to our program on and off the court.

We have also signed Vonnie Fredrick a libero out of Elba, NE from Central Community College in Columbus, NE. Vonnie is a great competitor and has a great deal of experience as a libero and DS at a high level of competition while at CCC. Vonnie is an exciting defensive player and has high VB IQ and court awareness. We are extremely fortunate to have Vonnie coming to DWU this upcoming fall.

These 3 young ladies are great people and have wonderful personalities that mesh extremely with our current roster. We have putting a major effort in getting the "best people" not just the "best athletes". We are heading in the right direction as a program and I am unbelievably excited about the future of this program.

As this 2011 recruiting season comes to a close the 2012 class has already been up and going and in full swing. We have had around 8 2012 HS seniors on campus from January to this late June time and have a had a great response from each visit and we have even received a verbal commitment at this time from one of our top recruits. Let's just say we stole her away from some major programs and are fortunate to do it so early in the summer. This will hopefully be the first recruit we have signed before the fall season begins since I have been at DWU. I am actually hoping that we can get at least 1 more athlete to commit before the fall season and maybe even 2 more. We'll see and be working our tail off to make it happen. To be a part of an up and coming program that relishes being the underdog and is ever so quickly getting to be a bigger name in our conference and region is exciting for every competitive athlete out there. Our time for greatness is just around the corner.

- Coach V

DWU VB Camps A Great Success

The DWU VB camps turned out to be a great success this year. We went with our normal schedule of Youth Camp and Team Camps and then also added a HS level skills camp for the first time. We had the most Youth campers we have ever had in the past 4 summers and will continue to look for growth each year. The youth camp is so fun to do, we get to help mold these very young athletes with the skills that have made our players so successful during their careers. They are also so fun to coach and to watch them play can be funny and so rewarding when they get 3 contacts and play out rallies.

Our HS level skills camp was exciting. I didn't know what kind of response we would get with it being the first one we have done but we did get a good number of over 25 participants for that camp. This camp was a great opportunity for the campers to get involved in some high intensity drills that we use at DWU and to learn some advanced concepts and strategies about the game. We also had a couple of recruits come up for the camp to from Texas and Minnesota. It was a great opportunity for our players to meet and play with these players in a get to know type of atmosphere. It paid off as we did get a verbal commitment from our Minnesota recruit.

This year's team camp ended up being a good after we were nervous to not have enough teams as heading up to it we had 2 teams back out on us at the last minute. It was amazing to see the growth of the players and the teams as we went through 3 days of hard team concept training. It was such a great camp and so beneficial for the players and coaches. We had a great response from the coaches as to the great amount of time we spent on skill development while at the same time being able to do it in a 6 v 6 format. We held a tournament to finish off camp and Ethan HS defeated Baltic HS to win the championship. We then capped off camp with an All-Star match that included 10 players from the teams at camp facing the DWU players that were at camp to coach. The match started off pretty tight as the All-Stars held a quick lead but the ability to terminate the ball late in the game in transition for the DWU players ended up being too much for the All-Stars as the final margin of victory ended up being 9 points. It was fun to see some of the All-Stars raise their level of play against these college players.

We will always continue to put forth a well planned camp and bring a fun learning environment. I want to thank all of the DWU players that were here to help with camp. Thank you to Brooke Warne, Kayla O'Connell, Liz Humiston, Jordyn Heath, Cara Chomey, Stacie Brinker, Katie Lindow, Vanessa Johanneson, Myriah Beiswanger, Ashley Styer, and Briana Jung. These ladies did a great job with teaching the skills but also staying positive and energetic through the entire week. Great job ladies.

The Beginnings of a Great Class of 2011 Recruits

We have a lot of great things going on for DWU volleyball right now in the present time but we need to talk about the future. The recruiting class of 2011 is rounding itself into shape and we are so excited about the additions we have coming in for the 2011 season. We are not quite done yet as there are a few more offers out to some special players but I had to get some information out about the players that have already signed. We have a few headliners in this class for 2011, such as 2 of the 3 Miss Volleyball award winners from the state of South Dakota. Introducing: Danielle Bird - OH/MH from Omaha, NE - has a unbelievable amount of athletic ability, very high jumping ability and a lot of power in her swing. We "stole" her from some very good NCAA Division 2 programs that normally make it in to the Division 2 National tournament. TyAnn Buddenhagen - S/OH from Huron, SD - The 2010 South Dakota Class AA Miss Volleyball. TyAnn has the ability to play so many positions that we may just have to create a new one in the sport for her. Setting or hitting or even doing both with a particular offensive setup we will able to do a lot of things with TyAnn on the roster. Briana Jung - S from Warner, SD - The 2010 South Dakota Class B Miss Volleyball. A wonderful compliment to the system of play we want to have for the next few years. Briana brings so much knowledge of the game and an understanding of how to run an offense that we will be able to be extremely creative with our offensive system. Katie Lindow - OH/DS from Green Bay, WI - Katie has one of the most unbelievable work ethics that I have ever seen in a player. Just a great example of "what" and "how" to do things to be successful. There are multiple ways to use Katie and we excited as a staff to find ways to let her contribute to our success. Vanessa Johannson - MH from Tea, SD - A very gifted athlete that is quick laterally and off of the floor when jumping. Vanessa will add some athletic ability to our roster that could create matchup problems with quickness for our opponents. We are excited to get her in the gym this fall. Ashley Styer - MH/OH from Wolsey, SD - Ashley, as the daughter of a coach, has a natural understanding of the game of volleyball. She can make the game look at easy at time becuase of her awareness to know what will happen next. Ashley may be looked at to play a couple of different positions over the coming year or two. Her understanding of the game will allow for easy transition into the college level of play. This is a great start to our 2011 class. We have a some more offers out to some very good players and I am extremely anxious to hopefully talk about them soon. This is a class that will be a big foundation for the success of the coming 2-5 years. We have a great plan in place and our next 2 recruiting classes (2012 & 2013) are also providing us with a great deal of optimizm for a potential GPAC championship run in the near future. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that, Right? -Coach V

The Finale to the 2011 Year

So it has clearly been way too long since I have updated the world on the great things going on with DWU Volleyball. Quick Review of 2011 season: Hosted a 1st Round GPAC tournament match for the first time in school history. Continued to make the climb up the conference standings each of the past 3 seasons. Injuries to key people didn't help keep the rhythm we wanted. - Season ending injuries to our more consistent Serve Receive passers during the first weekend of the season as well as the first weekend of October held back our push at the end. All in all a pretty successful season. Something we can look back on as a positive experience. Now looking ahead to the future. There is a lot of work to do. We will be graduating 7 players from the 2011 roster as well as another 4 players deciding to concentrate on their academic futures. I wish all of you the best and will hope to see each of you at our future matches and potential alumni matches. Thank you to each and everyone of you for your commitment to DWU Volleyball. The spring season was interesting as we went through most of the training and competitions with 11 of 12 players available to practice full-time and only 9 of the 12 able to compete against outside competition. We have been working on a couple of new skills that we will be adding in for the 2012 season. Our blocking will be more aggressive and athletic for sure. We competed twice this April and both dates went very well considering the circumstances of each date. The first date we travelled to Augustana and competed against Southwest Minnesota State (one time #1 team in Division 2 in 2011) and Augustana (normally a Top 25 team in Division 2). We held our own against these very veteran teams as we put 3-4 freshmen along with 2-3 juniors at times on the court. We gained a lot of experience very quickly during that evening as we were forced to play at a pace that we couldn't simulate in practice. We had some very good runs of points against each team and all things considered we defended the fast pace systems of offense by both teams pretty well. We also play USF at Augie and had a very competitive match against them as we played 3 sets with them felt in control of most of the match. It was a very solid evening for our players. Our 2nd competition, we hosted Mt. Marty and Dakota State. We played at an unbelievably high level of speed and precision nearly all night. We were extremely organized and focused during each playing opportunity. It was a great way to finish our spring season of practices and competitions. We now prepare ourselves for final exams and then the summer go through the workout that will help get the team prepared for the rigorous travel schedule of 2012. Lot's of expectations and we are anxious to get going. -Coach V

The Tough Stretch

As any coach heads into the season the circle two parts of their schedule; one that they realize that they can make a run and get potentially many wins in a row and the one part of the schedule that will be gruelling for their players and challenge the team to the greatest extent of their physical and emotional strength.

We are almost through that gruelling stage right now. We have almost completed the part of our schedule that had us playing all Top 6 teams in the conference in a row. It started with #19 in NCAA DIII poll (3)Nebraska Wesleyan on the 9th, #4 in the NAIA national poll (1) Northwestern on the 12th, (6) Hastings on the 15th, #15 in the nation (2) Doane on the 16th, #19 in the nation (4) Dordt on the 19th. We have (5) USF this upcoming Saturday.

The schedule has never been friendly to us at this time of the year but yet neither has the ability to shoot ourselves in the foot with unforced errors. This is one of those points in time that you get through and then move on as quickly as possible and try to put it to the back of your mind and forget it ever happened.

Some positives that we can look at as we progress in the final stage of our season is that we get to go back to our 6-2 setup with the return of Rachel Tinklenberg, back from an injury which held her out for from the start of this part of the schedule. Ashley Kley is beginning to get her offensive game back from a year ago at this time. Kimi Lueders is showing her offensive talent and the reason why she was put in the lineup on a little bit more consistent basis. Meghan Cronberg is beginning to understand that attack location is just as important as power and the combination of the two is lethal. We need these four players as well as Carina Fesenmaier, Stacie Brinker, Andrea Johnson, Kacie Sanderson, Brooke Warne, Sam Sandau, Wendy Schmaltz, Kayla O'Connell, Kalissa Wade, Kara Robertson, Liz Humiston, Kelli Swenson, Lacey Reimnitz, redshirt Larissa Veldhuizen and even our injured players Lexi Townsend, Sage Knudson, Nikki Gleich and Sarah Stahlke to be at the top of their emotional, mental and physical abilities on an everyday basis. We need the commitment to self-improvement and the ability to help teammates improve to be at is greatest level than ever before.

We have an opportunity to go out win our next 6 matches. Our opponents are all very beatable and not to our level of play when we have absolute focus on our game plan, skills, and togetherness. I go back to last week's comment, "IT IS THAT TIME OF THE YEAR". We are in that moment, that stage, that time of the year where great things only happen when you fear nothing and you give every drop of energy to your play, your sport, your TEAM.

- Coach V

That Time of the Season

It's that time of the season. Geez that can mean so many things. For us right now it truly does. It's that time of the season that the body starts to break down for the athletes. Well, we currently have 5 players out with season ending injuries and just had a starting middle go down with an ankle injury over the weekend. We back problems, shoulder issues, and other foot and knee ailments. It's that time of the season.

It is also that time of the season that our conference schedule becomes very unfriendly to us. This past Saturday was the beginning of a stretch of matches where we play all top 5 teams in the conference in a row, then a non-conference match, and then the 6th place team. Why not throw that schedule right on top of the pile, lol. We are ready for it and are going into this stretch with a great deal of focus and preparation. To be the best in this conference you have to go through the top teams eventually (not all at once though). Yet this seems to be the schedule we have every season in mid-October. It's that time of the season.

So here is a quick review for those of you that missed out on our previous week of matches. We came off of a great match win at Midland University on the 2nd of Oct. feeling great. Our next match was at USF on that Tuesday. We came in confident and focused. We had to adjust our lineup due to the season ending injury to Sarah Stahlke, our most consistent serve receive passer on the season. Although we felt that we could manage and still perform at high level. We certainly did for the first set and half. We controlled every aspect of the match during the first set, forcing them to make at least 3 substitutions they were not planning to make. We then came out again with a quick start and about a 7-8 point advantage at like 16-8or9. And then we froze up, our serve receive passing became our worst enemy. We were stuck in one rotation for 12 straight points and that comfortable lead we had became a deficit very quickly. It was heart-wrenching and we all knew that it wasn't going end well. We struggled the rest of the match as we could not find a way to build our confidence against basically 2 of their servers as they ran us off the court with extremely aggressive serving. It was like being hit in the chest and not ever seeing it coming, everything just leaves you and you struggle to find your breathe and bearing as to where you are. We knew we let them off the hook.

We came back into the next couple of practices with that extremely sour taste of "what if". We had to figure out a way to just suck it up and get better with our ball control. There was an understanding that heading into the weekend that our Friday match against, then 0-6 in GPAC play, Concordia was a must win situation for us. We adjusted our lineup again during practices to give us a little bit more consistency with our passers. Then Friday came and with our lower numbers we were forced to play some Varsity players in the JV match. One of our starting MH's, Rachel, came down on a teammate during the last segment of the JV warm up and hurt her ankle. She played during the first set of the JV but couldn't do much with movement so we decided to shut her down for the night. With that decision we had to make a drastic change from what our practices had prepared us for. Without the additional hitter we were forced to go back into a 5-1 setup that we used earlier in the season. It seemed to work out OK. We had our struggles passing but we played consistently enough to win 3 close sets to take the match. Carina set a very solid match after not running a 5-1 in about 2-3 weeks. Our OH's came out to play and sparked our offense. Meghan and Ashley will need to continually perform at a high level within out of system hitting to keep us stable since our passing has been streaky of late. It was a great win for us and something we felt we could build on heading into the next night.

On Saturday, we faced Nebraska Wesleyan. Who was just coming off of very long 5 set match against Dordt. I thought we would have the advantage with energy level, feeling that they may have been tired from the gruelling match the night before and the 2 hour travel in the morning. However, in the first set it looked like we were the ones that traveled 2 hours and just woke up. We needed a spark, some emotion, some fire. We found it in the 2nd set as we battled extremely hard to come back and win the set 27-25. We felt good about our play and felt that we could pull out something special. We battled hard in the 3rd and 4th sets but could pull out the wins. There always seemed to be 1-2 rotations that held us back from controlling the tempo of the match. Our offense power was not with the rest of the match as it seemed all of our attacks were dug up by NWU and they limited our kills. A lack of offense has been a key contributor all year to some of our struggles. We are trying to implant that "killer instinct" into our hitter's attitudes and mental approach to attacking balls. I tell them all the time if we are going to go down let's go down swinging and trying to take off the opponent's blocking arms or digger's heads, haha.

We head into this week with an uncertainty about Rachel's ankle as well as our serve receiving passing confidence and attacking attitude. It is going to very interesting to see how this group of young ladies responds to the great challenges ahead of them with playing the top 6 teams in the conference all in a 2 week period of time. It's gut check time, who has the mental fortitude to not care about who the opponent it and just go out and execute the skills and game plan that is required of them. Who can face the challenge, stare it right in the face and scream as loud as they can, "I WILL CONQUER YOU".

IT IS THAT TIME OF THE SEASON!!!!

- Coach V

The Midway Point: WE BELIEVE

Well let's see where we left off last time. We had just switched our lineup around with a four day practice window and a weekend off in between and went out to beat Mt. Marty in 3 sets, albeit that the 2nd and 3rd sets were close and we had to come from behind to win both of those to win the match. I guess you can say that is our forte.

We had 3 days to prepare for Morningside, a team always at the top of our conference but with them having a lot of new players on their roster and with some of the matches they had lost I felt that this could be a time to get while they were a little down. During the week of practice we tried to emphasize starting quick and controlling the serve receive portion of our game to give us chances to compete throughout the match. The first 2 days went fairly well for practice for all of the players. However, on the Friday practice only half of the team really showed up to compete in practice. I feared the worst after the practice heading into Saturday's match against Morningside. My fears held up true as nothing seemed to go right for most of the match. We missed serves, we didn't pass well in serve receive, our defensive discipline was non-existent and we had a lot of hitting errors. It was one of those matches that you swear all of the players were abducted by aliens and it was just their bodies there and not their minds, hahaha. So our JV lost quickly in 2 and our Varsity lost in 3. It was one of those days that you just hope as a coach that the players realize that your past successes only mean something up until the start of the next match. You have to give everything for every match and when you give teams that are struggling a little bit of momentum it is tough to take it away from them. It was time to refocus on discipline and constant focus.

So we had an opportunity to get ourselves back on track by hosting Dakota State on the following Tuesday. We were very confident coming in and gaining confidence with our new lineup. We did know that Dakota State was going to come in with a great amount of energy and really looking to steal a win from us. Both teams came out with a lot of energy in the match and it seemed that all the way up to the 17 point area of each of the 1st two sets that both teams were even in play but then DSU would make a small 3-4 run and separate themselves from us and go up 2-0 in the match. We went in to the intermission between the 2nd and 3rd set knowing that something was missing, not necessarily with skill and strategy but with heart and purpose in every movement we do on the court. We talked about discipline and passion during the intermission and came out of the locker room a completely different team. We came out and seemed like we could do nothing wrong offensively or defensively. Our team defensive positioning and discipline was outstanding. We put DSU away in the 3rd and 4th sets with them only scoring 14 and 13 points (complete dominating performances). So we again force another match to a 5th set and again when we started down 2-0. The 5th set started with both teams going back and forth a with points. After a few points back and forth our defense and offensive transition took over and we seemed to continually go 2 or 3 points to their one to finish of the match. It was another 5 set victory for us and we always take them. We are certainly becoming that team that no one wants to let hang around in matches because we will find ways to get the win.

The very next night we had a conference match against Briar Cliff. A team that I feel roster wise and system wise we matched up very well against. It was an opportunity for both teams to gain a spot in the standings as both of us were sitting at 1-3. We played well for most of the match but at the 15-17 point area of each of the 3 sets we played we just seemed to run out of gas a little bit. Could it have been that the 5 set comeback from behind win the night before took a lot out of us? It is possible. Again it always came down to defensive discipline as we were constantly finding ourselves out of position at key moments in each set. We also did not have an outstanding offensive showing which kept us from putting more pressure on their defense. We dropped the match in 3 but could have a small feeling of leaving the match that with how inefficient we were offensively we still gave ourselves chances to stay in each set and potentially get the job done.

We looked at the next two days of practice as great opportunities to get more in tuned with our defensive intensity and discipline. The two practices went very well leading into our match against Midland University. We left to travel to Midland on Friday night after practice to make sure that we got great rest for the afternoon match time. There was a great amount of focus in both matches. The JV unfortunately lost in 2 but it there were some really good moments in the match. The varsity came out with an unbelievable amount purpose, discipline, and focus. We came out and took the first two sets with great confidence. We went in to the next set knowing that the match was not over and that we needed to continue to raise our level of energy and play. Midland for sure increased their energy and started to really complete their game plan against us. They served aggressive and kept us from being in system to get quality swings. They had us playing very inefficiently in all aspects of our game and took the next 2 sets of the match easily to even it up at 2-2. It was kind of a role reversal for us. We were normally the team that starts down 2-0 to come back to even the match. It has never been the other way around. It was going to be interesting to see how we would respond from being so close to closing out the match early. The 5th set started with both teams trading points for nearly the entire set. Midland found a couple of times that they would pull out in front by two points, their first time was at the switch at 8-6. We were forced to make some lineup changes due to and injury and it was nerve racking because we had to bring in players that were being put into positions they don't normally play. We battled the rest of the way, eventually finding ourselves down 13-10 after being aced for the 16th time. We sided-out and found some phenomenal discipline in our defensive structure for 3 plays in a row to get us a 14-13 lead and a match point. I felt this was our moment and that we needed to finish it on the next point. Midland came up with a great play to sideout to even the score and get one of their servers that had given us trouble all match going back to serve. After that you don't normally feel comfortable about the next serve to receive. However, we found a way to pass a perfect ball and sideout on a first ball swing to tie up the set at 15-15. We took advantage of the opportunity to and won the next point which was a long rally that both teams fought very hard to win. We fortunately had the best offensive opportunity of the rally and won the point. We went back to serve and Midland's serve receive let them down on the serve as they had to chase a ball down to their bench and give us a free ball. They knew exactly what we were going to run and had 2 blockers in great position to defend the attack but our aggressive swing to the edge of their block sent the ball out of bounds to win the match for us and let the celebration begin.

We have had a roller coaster of performances during the season to this point and this Midland match was a perfect example of it. However, most of the stuff before ended with losses for us. I believe now we have a true understanding that we can still win matches when things aren't going well in a match for us. We have the talent and size to compete in every match we play. Yet this is the point in time and I think this is the match that will catapult us into a wonderful run in building confidence and putting us in a great situation to compete at the highest level of our abilities night in and night out.

We believe we are a team on the rise and team that no one wants to face because we will never quit playing hard and we will always find ways to make it difficult to beat us. We have half of the season to build on this huge win for us. The time is now to see where we can truly go.

-Coach V

Week 4/5: Days off are always great

I guess when you get a few days off from playing matches you kind of let things slide. So I apologize for this update coming a little later than anticipated.

After our weekend of hosting a great tournament at the Corn Palace we had to quickly refocus and come back with a conference match against a very strong and nationally ranked (24) team in Dordt College. As we looked at film and then eventually as both teams were warming up we noticed something potentially could and would play a big factor in the match. Dordt is a very tall team across the front row all of the time. They ran a 6-2 offensive setup and in every front row position they had a not 1 player that was under 5' 11" (I think only 1 was 5'11" and the rest were all 6' and taller). We have 2-3 players with that kind of size. This was a match that we felt coming in was going to be controlled at the net and by the end of it Dordt clearly had the upper hand with their size. We did not find much success on sets to the antennaes as their double block on the right and left side was very good. However, we did have a lot of success in the middle of the court. Our middles did well when they got the ball and put Dordt in a lot of very difficult positions. If we only could have passed a little better I think we could have gotten them the ball a little more often and slowed down the speed of their blocking movements. Our success in the middle was not enough as we fell in 3 sets. Fortunately, we will get another chance to play them later next month and with our experiences against them as a bigger blocking team we will have the advantage of understanding how to hit around those big blockers and potentially how to use their size to our advantage by attacking the ball lower and off of their exposed arms to the edges of the court.

We left the Dordt match feeling that we didn't leave enough of ourselves out on the court, we held back for whatever reason. Was it an intimidation of a team that is better on paper or that we have struggled as of late and not overly confident with ourselves? We didn't know exactly what is was at the time but we knew we could figure it out. We didn't have time to dwell on it as we had leave the Dordt match behind us as the very next night we had to get right back up and play another match, this time against Presentation College.

We entered the Presentation match with the sour taste we had from the match the night before. We came out with a sense of purpose in our play at the start of the match and jumped out very quickly to big early lead in the first set. We went trying to focus on correcting the physical errors we committed the night before. There was a concsious effort put forth in making those changes. We were also fortunate that Presentation was not as big as Dordt; it actually turned out opposite as we were the team with the unbelievable size in the match. We controlled the tempo for pretty much the entire match. Presentation had a few good runs at times but never put us in real danger of feeling that we would lose any set. It was good to get the win and stop a nasty losing streak we were currently on. We still had some things to adjust and most importantly we had to build our team confidence that the hardwork does pay off.

After the Presentation match on Wednesday, we were fortunate to have 5 day period of time before our next match. We took that time to put together a new lineup together that would help solidify our serve receive passing while at the same time give us more offensive options. This was the only period of time during the season that if we were going to make any drastic changes it had to be now. It was great to get 4 practices in with the new setup and then to be able to come out and use it against conference foe Mt. Marty.

Our focus and level of energy was at a level it hadn't been all year heading in to the match on Tuesday. Dannie, our assistant coach, pointed it out to me right away as the girls were warming up, "They are here tonight focused and ready, no goofing off tonight". I looked out and saw the very same thing; It was wonderful to see 13 "game faces" on and ready to compete at the highest level. The night was ours to be had and there was no way that the team was going to let anyone take anything from them easily that night. It showed very quickly as we just came out and controlled every aspect of the game to take a very quick 11 point lead about halfway through the 1st set. We controlled the tempo of the game and momentum was all ours. Even when Mt. Marty made nice 6 point run near the end of the set to get them back to about 4 or 5 points away, we never budged with our toughness. We closed out the set with a 4 point run of our own and I believe it ended 25-17. We felt really good about things heading into the 2nd set and I think that our dominance of the 1st set gave us a little bit of a easy comfort level. Mt. Marty came out in the 2nd set and put together some nice runs to get a lead of anywhere between 3-5 points for the first probably half of the set. We then just chipped away with each serve opportunity we got. We go back and get 2-3 points while they would just side out and then lose their serve. Those little 2-3 point runs added up quickly for us and we pulled it back to even. Just before we pulled it back to even, I think we had the kill of the season so far as Andrea Johnson came on 1 foot take off "go" set out of serve receive play and just absolutely crushed the ball (I swear it hit the 10 ft line and made the line move) to short left back and bounced halfway up the bleachers on just the bounce from the contact in the court. The entire crowd gave the whole "OHHHHH!!!!!!" sound all at once. A few points later as a timeout was called Andrea was still in shock, "That is the hardest ball I have ever hit in my life". Of course my response was, "That is just the beginning for you". We battled back and forth from there on out in a tough 2nd set and had face a couple of set points and some moments that most teams would have normally folded and given the set away to come back and take the set 27-25. We didn't crack under the pressure and again our confidence and competive spirit was growing. Going into the 3rd set it was clear that we were going to find any and all ways to finish this match in 3 sets. Even when we came out slow again in the 3rd set, there wasn't the feel of "here we go again, not sure if we can dig ourselves out". It was kind of the opposite feeling in that we were going to figure this opponent out and just create small scoring runs to chip away and get us back to even where we could then show our dominance. Mt. Marty fought with a lot of hear in the last set and had us scrambling around and playing a style of play that is not like ours. At times the play was sloppy and slow with a lot of tips and junk balls sent over the net. Our team did an excellent job of adjusting and using their unconventional style against them as we turned many of their tips into quick offensive transition plays for us. Both teams battled right to the end and by the end of it we didn't commit errors while they did and we came away in the 3rd to close out the match with another 27-25 set victory.

It was great to get the victory and get ourselves comfortable with our new offensive and defensive setups. We passed in serve receive extremely well and our offense was very balanced. It looks good for the future as we progress. I truly believe that we can keep it going and continue to build confidence in each other, our system of play, and our ability to compete and beat the top teams in our conference.

- Coach V

Weekend 3:Corn Palace Classic

Playing in the first volleyball ever played at the "World's Only Corn Palace" was a great experience. The tournament matches that went along with the event were all good and fun to watch. It may end up being that DWU plays all home matches there in future seasons. We'll have to see how that progresses though.



Friday was a full day of college matches that started at noon and ended around 10pm. What a long day but so much fun. Well we started off the tournament with NCAA Div II program Colorado Christian. Wow were they athletic, discipline and very explosive. They did a great job in transition turning our attacks into kill opportunities for them. We came out a little slow in each of the 3 sets played and had to play from behind each time. We couldn't rely on our comeback ability in any set as CCU was dominate in the middle of the court. They blocked and attacked well from the middle and we struggled to either block or dig them from there. We had our runs of points but their aggressive serving and quick transition plays were just a little too much for us in the end.



We came out in our next match at 8pm (the nightcap of the first day) against Dickinson State with a lot of energy and fire in our mental approach to the night. We competed very well in all of the sets up until point 17 or 18 and then it seemed that we would hit a wall. Our serve receive passing or side out ability was not strong throughout the weekend and really held us back from closing out some sets. We had a great opportunity to change the momentum of the DSU in the 2nd set. We had the majority of the momentum throughout the entire set, our attacking percentage was better than theirs, we had more aces, and more blocks in that set. Yet it came down to our inability to side-out right away; we gave a final 3 point run to close out set #2 and it really hurt our confidence for the start of set #3 as we dropped 5 straight points to open the set. We battled back but the initial start really hurt our chances to really get back into the set. It was great to see that there was some fire in us, some push. We will just need to find it more consistently for 25 points and not 18. Ashley Kley played well with 11 kills as well as Kimi Lueders who had 6 kills, 0 errors and hit .545.



The second day was the true start of the fun for the tournament. We had 3 college matches start the day on campus at DWU at 9am and then some HS matches started at noon at the Corn Palace. The noon match at the Corn Palace with Hanson facing Marion really kicked off the day as that match went 5 sets and had a lot of emotion poured into it by both teams. The second HS match of the day had Mt. Vernon facing Corsica/Stickney for the CBH Conference Tournament Championship. Corsica/Stickney got through Mt. Vernon in a quick 2 set match to win the tournament championship. The third HS match was the nightcap event and had rivals Mitchell HS against Huron HS. All expectations were that Huron would run away with the match. However, Mitchell had very different plans. MHS came out with so much energy and passion that Huron didn't know what hit. Mitchell played solid all night both offensively and defensively to take the match in 4 sets and make waves in the rivalry. Congratulation MHS. Great finish to the Corn Palace Classic.



The second match was us facing Kansas Wesleyan. We came out with great energy, focus and determination to get the job done. We battled to close victories in the first 2 sets to only lose a little focus and drop the next two sets in close fashion. We conquered the 5th set again in close manner after first pushing out to an early 6 point advantage. We managed to get it done and win the match even though not having a great offensive performance overall but we found ways to win. Congrats ladies. There were a few players that had solid matches. Brooke Warne had 32 digs to lead the team. Carina Fesenmaier had 45 assists and 21 digs. Ashley Kley had 11 kills and 20 digs. Kimi Lueders had 10 kills and only playing in 2 sets Rachel Tinklenberg played a great backup role and came out with 8 kills on 13 attacks. There was great balance throughout all of the stats and something we are hoping to continue for the rest of the season.


The last college match put DWU vs. Valley City State University. This has grown into one great rivalry. So let's set this up, these two teams have played 3 prior to this match over the past 2 seasons with each match going 5 sets and a DWU victory. Two of those victories were when VCSU was up 2 sets to none forcing DWU to come back and win the next 3 sets. Which happened just the week before at the USF tournament. Needless to say, VCSU really wanted to get the monkey off their back. They came out on fire in the first set just putting it to us 25-12. We had no answers due to our serve receive passing, setting, and hitting not being up to par. However, we would not falter to the challenge and came out to have our best offensive set of the season putting up 18 kills in the set and hitting .406 to go on and take the set 25-19. As we made the crossover to switch sides VCSU's staff and I could only laugh and say "why not go 5 and continue the streak". We all knew that the fight was on for this match. We came out in the 3rd and played a roller coaster set of play while at the same time so did VCSU, a lot of errors by both teams. We came out on top 25-22. Heading into the 4th set our players were demanding to finish this in 4; the talk was there but not the walk. We came out flat with our serve receive execution again and it started us in big hole to start the set. We couldn't quite pull it back to even and eventually lost the set 25-21. So why not a 5th set between DWU and VCSU, keep the rivalry alive. However, this time VCSU decided that they had had enough of losing these type of matches to us. They had a determination in their play that we could not match, unfortunately. I think our previous wins in the 5th set gave us a false sense of comfort thinking that they would just fold. Unfortunately we could not defend their pin to pin offense in the 5th as their OH's picked us a part to an easy 15-8 match win. This match hurt yet however gave us a great lesson in understanding that you always have to remain hungry for the victory. They just won't happen because of history.

The weekend was a success for all of the teams. I want to thank all of the volunteers that did everything from taking tickets, security duty, scorekeepers, stats, and line judging. Without all of you this tournament would not have run so smoothly. Thank you to everyone who came out to support all of the teams that played. I am sure you had a lot of fun getting to watch so much volleyball in one weekend.

- Coach V

2nd Weekend: USF Tourney

Go ahead and call us the Cardiac Kids. There seems to be no deficit we can't come back from to either win or make a score close at the end. This past weekend at the USF tournament we found ourselves in a lot of trouble situations early on in nearly every set of each match we played. We left the weekend knowing that we can fight our way back into matches and bring our play to a different level even during matches we are not playing our best volleyball. We also learned that we need to develop a killer instinct during every point of a match and to value every point we score as well as give up.

We started off the weekend with a noon match against Waldorf College. A very much undersized team in comparison to us but a team with a lot of defensive fight in them. I realized it was going to be an interesting weekend from the opening set when we committed 16 errors to give them an easy first set win, 17-25. After a regrouping of our composure we went out in the next two sets to absolutely dominate play and come away with 2 easy set victories (25-14 & 25-15). We then decided that the 2 easy set wins were enough to finish the match easily, but our opponent wanted nothing to do with it. We didn't have the killer instinct to finish them off and they took the 4th set 25-21 and stole the momentum of the match right from us. So we headed into the 5th set playing a completely inferior opponent in size and athleticism but with more confidence, a clear danger zone. The 5th set started off with us jumping out early and again relaxing thinking the lead was safe. It turned into a back and forth battle from the 8 point switch with neither team backing down. I think we pulled from our previous match experience with Black Hills State, in which we went 5 sets but lost, and learned a lot about ourselves. The experience paid off as we closed out the match barely with a 16-14 win for the first match win of the season. It wasn't pretty (we committed 43 total errors in the match) or exactly as we had hoped but we got the job done. Good teams find ways to win even on bad days. There were a few players that stood out with solid games to help lead to the victory, Ashley Kley had 14 kills while hitting .344 and 9 digs; Sarah Stahlke had 9 kills while hitting .368 and 7 digs; Carina Fesenmaier had 43 assists and 10 digs; and Kayla O'Connell, getting her first ever varsity college playing time came in and had 14 digs, she was a pleasant replacement for an injury that came up during the week of practice heading into the weekend.

The second match of Friday was against Valley City State, with a new head coach who is the best friend and former teammate of my wife while at MN State-Moorhead, this match had a different feel for me as a coach. I enjoy beating my friends the most, LOL. So after winning a tight match just previously and not coming out with fire or a sense of urgency in the that previous match, one would think that you next match in that same day would be an opposite start. Well I hate to say it but I think it got worse; no emotion, no heart, no desire, and no fight to start off the match. Valley City, a team that lost to us last season in 2 heartbreaking 5 set matches was out for revenge. They played with so much passion and energy that we didn't even know what had hit us for the first 2 sets (18-25 & 13-25). It had the feeling of us just lying down and taking the beating with no resistance. The 3rd set started off and there wasn't much of a change, we committed errors and made a lot of defensive positioning mistakes; it was rough for us. I remember looking at the score with one timeout remaining (I used the first one in the first 5 points of the set) and seeing us down something like 13 or 14 to 19 or 20, some score that you normally pack it up and go home when down 2 sets to none. Yet we put together a small 3-4 point run, then sided-out quickly and put another 3 point run together. They then put a small run together and i look up and its 24-21, we are looking at 3 match points in the face and we have just finally put some passion and pride into our play. I told my assistant at this time that if we win this set we will win the match, WATCH THIS!!! All of sudden our front line decided that they would begin to own the net and or the next 3 points we had 2 stuff blocks with about 4-5 other touches at the net during that span along with a great counter attack swing from Meghan Cronberg and we have put our nose in front at 25-24. VCSU sides-out and then scores on a quick transition play to put them up at 26-25 with another match point. Normally this is the time when a some random fluke play wins the match for the team that had been playing the most consistently throughout the match. However, we found something within our blocking scheme that just wouldn't allow them to get the ball across the net easily and put together the final 3 point run to take the 3rd set. It was amazing we only played well for the final 12 points of the set and somehow extended the match. We then went on riding such an adrenaline rush from that 3rd set to just pound them in the 4th 25-12 and then carried it over to the 5th and win the match 15-6. Our blocking, emotion, and energy only showed up in the last 2 1/3 sets of the match but it was a great way to finish the day.

Saturday came rolling around and I was personally pumped for it; we just came off of some high emotion matches and great wins to prove that we are never out of a match. We faced Grandview, a very solid team that is athletic and well coached. Oh and they also have this OH that can hit every type of set and to any area of the court without you thinking that she can, she is very good and powerful. As the match starts, we come out flat again (Deja vu anyone). However, this team was not going to give anything to us. They did a great job of keeping the ball in play when they couldn't get it to their main hitters and when they did get it to them, they play was for sure over with most of the time a point going to them. They ran away with a match that was neither easy nor difficult for them. We made some runs in each set at them, of course late in each set but it was always a little too late.

Our last match of the tournament was against SD school of mines. We again came out flat to open the match. However this time we figured it out quicker that we need to pull ourselves out of the hole quicker. We were down late in the first set 22-20 or something and found a way to close out the first set 25-23. I was thinking to myself, here we go we figured out how to have the sense of urgency, that killer instinct. Set 2 was fought out well by both teams, SDMT showed some resiliency to come back and win the 2nd set after dropping the first when they probably could have taken it as well. The 3rd set comes around and 4th set and eventually think to myself that I might have spoken too soon about us getting that killer instinct as we eventually dropped the final two sets of the match but not with putting together final runs in each of those sets to put the pressure on the other team. It was a heartbreaking match and one that we won't get the chance to revenge, we let it slip away from us and we all feel it.

I think we were relying on our ability to make comebacks too much in these two matches. We talked about having that passion and emotion from the first whistle. Have sense of urgency and understand that every point does matter. We are capable of coming back but more times than not in rally scoring you will always come up short in the end when you try to do it too often.

We had some great learning moments over the weekend and made some strides as a team. The quality of playing with passion and purpose everyday and having that killer instinct has not been a part of the history of this program. It has to begin somewhere and with one group of athletes. These are the athletes that it will start with, they too are going through the growing pains right now of learning how to handle the pressures of being that group that did it first.

We look forward to this week and Tuesday we face top team Northwestern on their home court. A huge test for us. Which teams shows up? The one that waits for the end or the team that controls the match from the very first whistle. If we can dominate the net blocking and force Northwestern to have to play longer rallies because of defensive attitude then the advantage will be with us. We will just have to go out and put it all on the line and play with Pride, Passion and Purpose.

- Coach V

A Positive Weekend of Growth

As outsiders (people more focused on results rather than the process of progression) may look at this past weekend as a disappointment due to the match record finishing up 0-4 to start the season. Those of us that are a part of the program and were fortunate enough to watch the weekend of play got to see a team really find their rhythm together during the second day and gain more confidence then any win over lesser competition could ever give. I am extremely happy with the effort, supportiveness, and leadership from everyone on our roster this weekend. The mental toughness that was shown from one day to the next was outstanding and a great foreshadow for the remainder of the season.

We scheduled this weekend to be tough and to see where we could potentially fit in with the national spotlight. 3 of the 4 teams we faced were either in the NAIA Top 25 or receiving votes to get in the Top 25 list. The 4th team has been a 30 win team 3 of the 4 years and formerly in the Top 25. We found out that we can play at a higher intensity level on a consistent basis and can potentially beat some very good teams within the national spotlight.

Our first match on Friday was against Indiana Wesleyan. We came out in the very first set and made great runs of points in the early part of the game and had the momentum for a vast majority of the set. Near the end of that set we faced one of the top jump topspin servers in the tournament and we struggled to keep her serve controlled to run efficient offense. We finished that set losing 22-25 and had 4 more total errors than IWU, the difference in the set. We talked about the difference in errors during the break and I think it changed our mentality in a way were not looking for. We came out in the next 2 sets playing timid and not wanting to make mistakes and our aggressive nature suffered. For the first match of the season and the first time playing against outside competition, we found out right away that we have two different speeds of play and that we don't want to be in the second one ever again. We are better when we play aggressive and fast.

Our second match on Friday was against #17 Bellevue. After watching them struggle against a Top 10 team right before our first match we had a sense of confidence that we could compete with them and potentially steal a set. However, Bellevue decided to make sure that they didn't have the same performance they had in their first match and played out of their minds defensively. We threw everything we could at them from different attack angles to different types of shots and they just dug every ball possible. We had some bright moments with some runs of points on our side that came from solid defense and good team play. When it was all said an done Bellevue flexed their muscles and proved why they were the #17 team in the nation.

Heading into the second day we may have been a little shell-shocked still from the finish of day 1. We played Jamestown first and came out sluggish. We forgot that there always need to be a certain thought process going on as we are on the court. Everything was chaotic and in complete panic for the first 2 sets of the match. During the break between the 2nd and 3rd set, we talked a lot about getting ourselves mentally reorganized and getting back to our aggressive style of simple play. The 3rd set was a complete 180* style of play from the previous matches outside of the very first set of the tournament against IWU. We played with wonderful communication and with PURPOSE. We stuck with our plan of correct positioning defensively and with a smooth offensive rhythm. We took the 3rd set to give the match a different feel and the 4th set was a battle until they went on one last solid serving and blocking run of about 5-6 points to finish off the match. We came out of this particular match learning so much about ourselves and finding the understanding of what level of energy it takes to compete at the national level.

The first 3 matches were tough matches and probably the greatest learning lessons for our team. We had to see that just going through the motions and not having a specific purpose for our movements and decisions would be detrimental to our potential success. I must say that this team full of fast learners.

Our 4th match was against a very powerful swinging, nearly every swing was as full power as they could swing, in Black Hills State. We played with PRIDE, PASSION, & PURPOSE from the very first serve of the game. Our challenges from the first 3 matches completely paid off for this match. We had a simple defensive plan and found ways to be balanced offensively and keep BHSU confused as to where we would attack and what pace we would attack. We held a 2-1 set lead heading into the 4th set, it was a battle and a back and forth set with each teaming sharing the momentum at least 4-5 times. They stole the 4th set from us (potentially due to a major scoring discrepancy in the first part of the set) and heading into the 5th set the match was up in the air. No team had a distinct advantage or the momentum. It was a great chance for us to get our first match win of the season. However, BHSU had a crucial 2 point run at 12-10 to push them to match point. We had our own 2 point run to get close but couldn't complete a block or dig against their top attacker for match point. We played wonderfully and actually gained more than just what a win could have given us.

I am going into this next week of practice feeling confident about our next tournament and upcoming matches. We have proven to ourselves that we can play consistently at the highest level of energy and focus. The season now truly starts with a complete understanding that each day we will get closer to being the high quality team we talk about being. It won't be easy but it will be worth all of the hard training and adversity that will challenge us everyday.

Great job ladies, the record to this point doesn't show what we truly accomplished. Our process will pay off, I think it will this upcoming weekend.

- Coach V