While some Minnesota Duluth fans would have liked to have seen the Bulldogs knock off Concordia-St. Paul in the NCAA Division II Central Region volleyball tournament, coach Jim Boos cares about one thing.
Winning.
The Bulldogs did just that on Friday in the region semifinals, with junior setter Ashley Hinsch having 40 set assists, 10 digs and four blocks as
second-ranked UMD beat sixth-ranked Wayne (Neb.) State 25-12, 25-22, 25-19 before 1,111 at Romano Gym.
UMD (33-1) advances to the title match at 7 p.m. today. The Bulldogs will play No. 4 Southwest Minnesota State (23-9), which stunned seven-time defending national champion Concordia-St. Paul 3-1 in the earlier semifinal at Romano. The Golden Bears had played in 11 straight region finals.
“What an amazing run they’ve been on, especially in a region like this. Incredible,” Boos said. “It was bound to end eventually, at least most people thought, or hoped, but I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy match whoever made the region final. Knowing now that it is Southwest, that is who our focus will be on.”
The Mustangs are the only team this season to beat top-ranked Tampa - which handed UMD its lone defeat in September - and are rallying around freshman setter Greta Geist, who was diagnosed with Nodular Sclorosis Hodgkins Lymphoma in February.
“You can just see the energy Southwest has right now and the confidence they’re playing with,” Boos said. “Southwest is another really scrappy defensive team where you get a huge swing you think is going to score a point and then all of the sudden here comes the ball again. I anticipate a point-by-point battle.”
UMD will attempt to beat Southwest Minnesota for the fourth time this season, just like the Bulldogs beat Wayne State for the fourth time on Friday.
The Bulldogs downed Wayne State 25-21, 25-15, 25-10 in last weekend’s NSIC championship match, and appeared to pick up where they left off , crushing the Wildcats in the first set.
Wayne State bounced back to play better in the next two sets, but it wasn’t enough as UMD won its 27th straight match. Katie Hughes had six kills and 15 digs to lead the Wildcats (27-7).
“We dug ourselves a hole and were never quite able to dig back out of it,” Wayne State coach Scott Kneifl said. “Duluth served the ball really aggressive, and offensively, if they dig the ball in system, they’re very, very tough to stop. They proved that here.”
Junior outside hitter Mariah Scharf added 10 kills for UMD and senior right-side hitter Maddy Siroin added eight kills and 15 digs.
“I thought it was more difficult having to play Wayne right away again,” Siroin said. “I think I had probably the worst nerves I’ve ever had. It’s hard playing a team four times in a season, let alone just twice.”
Teammate Monica Turner agreed: “They knew what we were going to do, so it came down to who did it better.”
UMD, which is in the region final for the second straight year, will try to advance to its third Elite Eight after advancing in 2004 and 2006, the year before Concordia went on its unprecedented championship run.
Boos, of course, doesn’t care how they get there, just so they get there. He elicited a big laugh at the postgame press conference talking about those who may have wanted to see UMD vs. Concordia.
“It’s a great rivalry, and there have been some tremendous matches both in their gym and ours,” Boos said, before cracking a big smile. “But I hope they’re not disappointed we’re still going to be in the regional final, just against somebody else. Boy, there is only so much we can do.”
SW Minnesota State 3, Concordia-St. Paul 1 Abbey Thissen had 20 kills to lead the Mustangs to a 25-21, 23-25, 25-22, 28-26 victory over the third-ranked Golden Bears, snapping the longest championship streak in college volleyball history.
The Golden Bears had won 43 straight NCAA playoff games. In the final set, Concordia trailed 23-19 before coming back to tie it and even taking the lead, making everyone in the building say to themselves, “Here we go again.”
“I don’t know if intimidation is the word I’d use, but Concordia has done it better than everyone else,” Mustangs coach Terry Culhane said. “What that program has done is impossible. To win seven national championships in a row, if I hadn’t seen it myself, I’d say there was no way that could happen. It was phenomenal.”
