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When it became obvious that the UMD volleyball team would fall short of its objective to repeat as league champion in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, the Bulldogs faced some struggles getting their act together. Coach Jim Boos pushed, prodded, lectured, and encouraged, and the players themselves found the combination for the proper chemistry.
It’s always important to be playing your best at the end of the season, and the Bulldogs certainly are doing that, as they battle their way in an attempt to wade through the stifling competition in the NSIC tournament. To qualify for the NCAA Division II regional, a team must rank among the top eight in its region, or win its league tournament.
Going into last weekend, Concordia was ranked No. 1 in the nation, as well as the region and the NSIC. Southwest Minnesota State was second in the league, Northern State of Aberdeen was third, and Wayne State of Nebraska fourth. UMD was locked into fifth, pretty much. As for the region, the top four in the NSIC were the top four in the region, as well, followed by four teams from the Mid-America Conference, and then, finally, came UMD at 9th.
UMD finished NSIC play at home last weekend, and after beating Minnesota State-Moorhead Friday, they faced the nation’s No. 3 team in Northern State. It was an exhaustive, unyielding match last Saturday afternoon at Romano Gym. UMD jumped ahead 6-1 in the opening game, but Northern State came back resolutely to catch up at 16-all, then the two swapped the lead until Taylor Wissbroecker’s two kills regained the lead for UMD at 23-21. But Northern came back again, gaining a 24-23 edge before Mariah Scharf tied it for the Bulldogs. But Northern got the next point, and when Kelly Madison’s diving attempt to save a ball headed out of bounds fell an inch short, Northern had won 26-24.
UMD stormed back in the second set, again taking a 6-1 lead, and this time fighting off Northern’s determined rally. The set was 19-19 before UMD prevailed 25-22. UMD seemed to take firmer command in the third set, after again going up early, then spurting from a 14-11 lead to 20-14 on the way to a 25-15 victory. A victory in the fourth set would give the match to the Bulldogs, but this time it was Northern State that battled back to a 19-all deadlock, and Northern evened the match with a 25-20 decision.
That left it all up to the fifth set, which would only go to 15. For the fifth straight time, UMD took the early lead, with Scharf scoring the first two points, and broke a 4-4 tie with a change-up, then ran off the back of the court to save a point, and then scoring with a second-row kill, as UMD led 8-4 and the teams changed ends. At that point, setter supreme Ashley Hinsch celebrated senior night in style. She got in the way of a Northern kill shot that was hit with such force it literally knocked her down. Hinsch landed on her rear end as the ball bounced over to the left side, and, incredibly, was knocked back her way. Still sitting in something like a Northern Minnesota yoga pose, Hinsch almost casually reached up and whacked the ball over the net. Moments later, Wissbroecker blasted a kill from the left side, and UMD led 9-4.
That point might have been the breaking point – not so much in diminishing Northern’s pressure, but in lifting the Bulldogs even higher, and they went on to win 15-8 when Sydnie Mauch hammered the final point from the right side.
The victory was UMD’s sixth in a row, although the Bulldogs didn’t know that Wayne State had lost. They already know they would be heading for Wayne State for a Wednesday night first-round match. The four winners will reconvene at the highest remaining seed – undoubtedly Concordia in St. Paul – for semifinals and the final. The tournament winner gains automatic entry to the regional.
This week, however, UMD got the good news: The winning streak and the triumph over No. 3 Northern boosted UMD from No. 9 to No. 7 in the region, while Wayne State tumbled from No. 4 to No. 8. If the Bulldogs could win at Wayne State, a shot at the league semis and final could still lead this team to a berth in the regional.
Scharf, named first team all-NSIC, had 30 kills against Northern, and hit an incredible .472 percent. “She had 30 kills against Tampa early in the season,” said Boos, and she hit over .500 against Minot and Mary. And Ashley made that incredible play that was the point that almost clinched the fifth game, putting us up five instead of three. It gave us a great energy boost.”

Hockey Doubleheaders

If you were a UMD hockey fan and went to AMSOIL Arena last Friday for the afternoon women’s game and the nighttime men’s game, it was an exercise in futility. There was nary a goal to be seen for the home team.
Wisconsin, the nation’s No. 1 team, was riding a remarkable streak. At 10-0, the Badgers had recorded nine consecutive shutouts. Their 3-0 victory Friday made that streak 10, and after an early flurry showed UMD with a 5-2 edge in shots, the Badgers came back to record 15 of the next 16 shots and gained a 1-0 lead. Jenny Ryan was the architect, assisting on all three goals, including a final masterpiece when she sent a hard pass from the right circle that Emily Clark deflected with her stick blade, up and into the left edge of the net.
Friday night, Denver did a similar job on UMD’s men – winning by 3-0 as Jarid Lukosevicius scored two of the goals. The Pioneers scored two of them in the last three minutes of the second period to put the game out of reach.
On Saturday, same schedule, different style points. Wisconsin led the UMD women 4-0, but UMD struck for two third-period goals, ending the Badger shutout streak at 31 consecutive periods.
The men fell behind 1-0 against Denver Saturday night, but Tony Cameranesi scored six minutes into the third period, and the game went into overtime. This season, the NCHC is trying a new plan. After a 5-minute overtime, a second 5-minute overtime is conducted, playing 3-on-3. In that setting, Cameranesi scored again, giving UMD a 2-1 victory in double overtime. By NCAA rules, the game stands as a 1-1 tie. In the NCHC, a game is worth three points, and once in overtime, the winner gets two and the losing team gets one. So UMD can declate a victory, the NCAA will call it even, but at least the Bulldogs have their first NCHC point.

Football Maintains Sports Fans’ Focus

There have been bigger games in the history of the Minnesota Vikings, although in this particular week of this particular season, it’s hard to remember anything bigger than Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers.
Go back three weeks, when Green Bay was 6-0 and riding high atop the NFC’s Central Division, and the Vikings were as relieved as thrilled at having won two in a row to creep above .500 at 3-2. Nobody dared even dream that there would be any way the Vikings could catch the Packers. Aaron Rodgers had already led the Packers to victory over Teddy Bridgewater, Adrian Peterson and the Vikings at Lambeau Field.
But a strange thing happened on the Packers way to a dominant season, right while a strange thing was also happening to the Vikings – who kept on winning, and now have won five straight games to stand 7-2. The Vikings are one of the NFL’s surprise stories, but nothing like the surprise at the unraveling of the Packers.
In a battle of undefeated teams, the Packers went to Denver and Peyton Manning absolutely gave a lesson to Rodgers as the Broncos hammered Green Bay. Rodgers had what might have been his worst game as a pro quarterback, but to me, the problem was deeper than that. Nobody picked up the slack when Rodgers was being pressured. No running back, no defensive play. The Packers looked surprisingly flustered, and the confidence that was close to a swagger had disappeared.
For that reason, my suspicion led me to pick the Packers to also lose at Carolina the next week, to another undefeated team, and it happened. That set up the perfect scenario leading up to the Packer-Viking game at TCF Bank Stadium on Sunday. If the Vikings could somehow beat Oakland at Oakland, we KNEW the Packers would get past hapless Detroit, and the two teams would collide with identical 7-2 records. Instead, Matthew Stafford was outstanding, and even though Detroit seemed to be trying to find a way to lose, the Lions held on to shock the Packers at Lambeau. The Packers used to play a few games in Milwaukee, as well as Green Bay, and last Sunday was the first time the Lions had beaten the Packers at any venue in Wisconsin in the last 24 years.
Three straight losses for the proud Packers – now that is the most surprising feature of this NFL season. They will probably come roaring into Minnesota angry and hostile, but they might be surprised when they see Adrian Peterson slashing through their recently-bewildered defense, and Bridgewater “managing the game,” as they say, with smart passes and a few darting runs. The difference, in my opinion, will be that while Bridgewater and Peterson give the Packer defense fits, the Vikings defense will make it a miserable day for the Packers.
No guarantees, but that’s my guess, and I’m sticking to it.
Meanwhile, on the collegiate front, UMD showed tremendous resilience in shrugging off the loss of star quarterback Andrew Bauer and ace running back Logan Lauters to whip Minot 36-10 and earn a spot in the Mineral Water Bowl. No, the Bulldogs won’t be making their “annual” trip to the NCAA Division II regional, but the Mineral Water Bowl is a worthy fallback spot.
The Bulldogs trailed 7-0, then 10-8 at halftime. But Nate Ricci, a gutty sophomore wide receiver from Stillwater, continued to fill in for Bauer, who is recovering from concussion symptoms. He looked right at home Saturday at Malosky Field when he sprinted 64 yards for the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter. Actually, he went about 125 yards by the time he swept left, cut back, ran through traffic, and finally outraced the defense up the right sideline to score. He gained an even 100 yards in the game, while going 10-19 for 107 more yards passing. For good measure, Ricci also was the leading UMD receiver in the game, after a trick play in which senior wide receiver Justin Fowlkes wound up with the ball, but instead of a flanker reverse, he fired a pass up the right side to – guess who? – Bauer, who sprinted up that same right sideline, 59 yards for the touchdown that made it 29-10.
Fowlkes wasn’t the only senior celebrating senior day, of course. Jonathan Harden, the gigantic block of muscle (5-10, 303 pounds) who plays nose-guard on defense and comes in as a heavy-duty blocker in short-yardage situations, did his thing. Coach Kurt Wiese let Harden earn the reward of a touchdown two weeks earlier, and against Minot, Harden got the call and scored on a 2-yard plunge in the second quarter, on another 2-yard plunge in the third quarter, and on a final 1-yard grapple in the fourth. Three touchdowns. Not a bad way to celebrate senior day.
St. Scholastica, meanwhile, earned its way into the NCAA Division III regional. The Saints must go to Oshkosh to face Wisconsin-Oshkosh, the No. 3 team in national D-III ratings. But coach Kurt Ramler has kept Saints football at the highest echelon in his two years at the helm, and one of these years, they are going to spring what traditional observers would call an upset. This could be the year.