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When the UMD volleyball team overran Southwest Minnesota State in three straight sets last Saturday,  a couple of things about the Bulldogs became evident.

First, if UMD advances and has a strong showing in playoffs and NCAA Division action, the ironic turning point that solidified this year’s team might be the stinging loss to Northern State two weeks earlier. Coach Jim Boos doesn’t necessarily agree, because he says, simply, “every loss is a bad loss.” It wasn’t as though UMD played poorly against Northern State, but more that Northern State came into Romano Gym on a mission, and they blocked the Bulldogs into submission in four games. It wasn’t so much a bad UMD performance as an inspired and near-flawless job by the Wolves. Most impressively, the Bulldogs came back with renewed determination from their second loss of the season to beat St. Cloud State, Wayne State and Augustana on a three-game road tour, before coming home to face Southwest. “It never hurts to be reminded that you can’t just show up and expect to win,” said Boos. “Then we won three strong matches on the road, and now two more at home.”

With the veteran team Boos has assembled, playing well is more important than the record, except, of course, playing well almost certainly means a victory is soon to follow. The performance against Southwest State showed the balance and power these Bulldogs will take with them on this weekend’s road trip to Winona State and Upper Iowa.

The other item that stood out was a two-pronged one. First, Kate Lange hits the ball with such force that she not only attracts double blocks, but she faces that obstacle as though she welcomes it. And second, the Bulldogs have such a wealth of talent that Lange no longer needs to carry the offense by herself. Seriously, Lange hit the ball with such force that when blockers appear ahead of her, instead of using finesse and touch to slip the ball past their upraised arms, Lange simply blasts the ball harder, and more often than not the ball will hit those upraised hands and carry on through, maybe to the end wall. Point, UMD.

“We have stressed being aggressive,” said Boos. “We want our players to have an attack mentality, and Kate is one of the hardest hitters in Division II volleyball. I’d love to see her try a change-up every once in a while.”  Other Bulldogs, such as Monica Turner, use more of the finesse approach, placing their kill attempts to miss the blockers. But Lange is more likely to blast the ball through the blocks, or off them, to glance out of the court. She plays with increasing intensity every match these days, even though she already has secured the all-time UMD kill record. Against Southwest, she had 11 more kills, and teammate Monica Turner led UMD with 14. “My teammates do such a great job,” said Lange. “And I think one of the reasons we’ve reached the level we’re at is our coaches work on different things every day.” As for the UMD kill record, Lange said, “It hasn’t really sunk in yet. We’ve still got a lot of games to go.”

But the number is rapidly diminishing. After Winona and Upper Iowa, UMD comes home to face Minnesota State-Mankato and No. 1 ranked Concordia of St. Paul on November 15-16 in a season-ending pair of matches that will be the biggest matches UMD will play all season. Concordia, of course, dealt UMD its only other setback of the season, and the way UMD is playing right now, it seems certain the momentum will build to a fitting climax to the regular season.