Minnesota Duluth graduated arguably the best volleyball player to ever come through the program, but the Bulldogs have responded with a season that has been nothing short of remarkable.
UMD is 28-1, clinched its first outright NSIC title since 2002 and is the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament starting today.
How did the Bulldogs do it? With balance.
The chief architect of the new design is coach Jim Boos, but his project manager is setter Ashley Hinsch. The junior from Zumbrota, Minn., was always good but is even better this year. She was recently crowned NSIC player of the year and will lead the Bulldogs against eighth-seeded Sioux Falls at 7 p.m. today at Romano Gym.
“It’s been a great accomplishment this year. It took a lot of work to get this done, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Hinsch said. “One of the reasons we’ve been so successful is our balance. All of our hitters get the job done. It’s hard to defend us when you can’t focus on one person. You have to be worried about every single hitter.”
UMD graduated all-time kills leader Kate Lange, who is now playing professionally in France, from a team that went 33-3 and advanced to the NCAA Division II Central Region final. She was named national player of the year.
Lange was the player the Bulldogs went to the last four years whenever they needed a big kill. The problem was that everyone in the gym knew it.
This year, five Bulldogs have at least 229 kills, but nobody has more than junior Mariah Scharf’s 378. Lange had 655 kills last season alone.
“I feel like I can’t mess up, whoever I go to,” Hinsch said, laughing. “I’m confident in everyone on our team. I’ll go to any one at any point in the game.”
Just how balanced have the Bulldogs been? Take UMD’s 3-1 victory over Minnesota State-Moorhead on Oct. 25 as an example.
Sydnie Mauch (12 kills), Katie Ledwell (11), Scharf (11), Maddy Siroin (10) and Monica Turner (10) were all in double figures in kills for the Bulldogs. That just doesn’t happen very often.
“No doubt about it, on any given night, it can be a different person leading us,” Boos said. “Last year, if Kate struggled, we kind of went into a little bit of a panic. This year, you don’t know where it’s coming from. It has forced Ashley to be more a decision maker.”
Boos said that kind of balance keeps everyone alert and involved. He likened it to an NFL quarterback who keeps all his receivers happy by spreading the ball around.
“You might be the fourth receiver, but you’re going to keep running good route because you know you’re going to get just as many opportunities as the No. 1 receiver,” Boos said. “Ashley has done a tremendous job running our offense and making it go. Ashley isn’t the rah-rah type but she doesn’t have to be. She’s a steadying influence on the floor.”
Boos admits he is harder on his setters than anyone else. It’s a unique position. Boos generally communicates with the setter who then in turns communicates with the rest of the players on the floor.
Hinsch said Boos is no harder on her than she is on herself. Like her coach, she is a bit of a perfectionist.
“I still have a lot of growing and learning to do,” Hinsch said. “I can still get better at my decision making, my consistency, my serving, everything.”
Hinsch was a two-sport star for the Zumbrota-Mazeppa Cougars in high school. The youngest of four siblings in a competitive family, she was always fighting to catch up.
In basketball, rather fittingly, she was a point guard, helping guide the Cougars to their first state basketball tournament. In volleyball, she was the starting setter for five seasons.
Hinsch was recruited by the likes of Concordia-St. Paul, the seven-time defending NCAA Division II national champions, but felt a calling to Duluth.
“I joined the team and it was like I automatically had 15 new friends,” Hinsch said. “Everyone on this team is like a best friend. It’s like having another family. It’s really neat.”
Hinsch considers playing college sports a privilege and an honor.
“You get to play still. That’s the best part about it,” Hinsch said. “Most people are done after high school, but we get to keep playing the sport we love.”
Hinsch has been named to the all-NSIC first team in each of her three seasons. On Monday she was named conference setter of the week for the sixth time this season. She leads the nation at 13.08 assists per set and had 60 in a five-set thriller on Saturday as the No. 2 Bulldogs edged No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State to go through the NSIC season unbeaten for the first time since 2002.
Hinsch is outwardly shy but is chatty once you get to know her. At 5-foot-10, she is that rare breed of play, tall and athletic enough to get kills and help with the block but more valuable as a setter.
Hinsch has basically played volleyball year round since she was 13 but doesn’t plan on letting up any time soon. What Lange is doing in Europe is the exception, so Hinsch is going to keep playing as much as she can for as long as she can.
And the dividends, for UMD, are remarkable.
“You can never get enough of the sport, because one day you’re not going to be playing it anymore,” Hinsch said. “You don’t want to have any regrets when you’re done, not doing what you love. You have to take advantage of it while you can.”
Ashley Hinsch at a glance
Year: Minnesota Duluth junior volleyball setter
Hometown: Zumbrota, Minn.
Major: biology
GPA: 3.5
Family: father, Gary; mother, Donna; brothers Josh, 30, and Dan, 29; sister Holly, 24
Post-graduation plans: attend dental school
