Minnesota Crookston Hosts Bemidji State on Halloween, Travels to No. 3 Minnesota Duluth on Saturday


The Golden Eagles are back at home on halloween as they host Bemidji State, before heading on the road to play two ranked opponents in No. 3 Minnesota Duluth and No. 11 St. Cloud State University. The Golden Eagles will wrap-up a three match homestand with their highway-2 rivals, Bemidji State, who defeated Wayne State College. The win over the Wildcats was the first win over a ranked opponent in the Kevin Ulmer era.

• SPOOKY SZN. The Golden Eagles will celebrate halloween by playing Bemidji State. This will be the first time that the Golden Eagles will play on halloween since 2017, when they swept the Beavers at Bemidji State. Minnesota Crookston is hoping for the same this halloween.

• EVEN. Since Sarah Rauen became head coach in 2017, the Golden Eagles and Beavers have seen some pretty close matches. In 2017, the Golden Eagles defeated the Beavers twice, once in five sets and another was a sweep. Last season, the two programs met three times, twice in NSIC play and once in non-conference play. The Beavers won the season series two to one. The meeting on Thursday will be the only meeting between the two teams in 2019.

• KEEP IT GOING. Over the past two weekends, junior outside hitter Deaira Gresham has had arguably her  best four match stretch of the season. In that stretch, Gresham has led the team in kills three out of the four matches, including collecting 10 kills on 34 total attacks against ranked opponent Wayne State College (NE). Gresham had her second highest hitting percentage in last Saturday's match against the Vikings of Augustana, when she hit .273. Her season high is .286, which she hit against Lake Superior State early on in the 2019 season.

• NAT ATTACK. Natalie Koke, the reshirt freshman setter from Caledonia, Wis., made a big impact this past weekend for the Golden Eagles. Koke collected 11 assists on the weekend, including 10 on Saturday's loss to Augustana. Koke collected a season and career-high 17 assists earlier this season against Lake Superior State. Koke has 85 assists on the weekend, and having two setters the caliber of Koke and junior Sydney Kruisselbrink is a luxury for the Golden Eagles. Those two will look to continue their strong play this weekend against two rivals.

• ON A ROLL. Katie Lienemann has been really good wearing a different colored jersey this season for the Golden Eagles. The junior from Rosemount, Minn., has had a breakout season in the back row, even collecting a whopping 39 digs in an earlier five-set win over Minot State. The defensive specialist has collected 10 or more digs in three straight matches and has done so in six out of the last eight matches for the Golden Eagles, dating back to a loss at MSU Moorhead in early October. Lienemann has had a great season and will look to continue her strong play as we head toward the backend of the season.

• GO-TO. Sophomore outside hitter Porsha Porath has been the go-to this season for the Golden Eagles. The Windom, Minn., native has had a breakout second year for the Golden Eagles. Porath leads her team in a number of offensive categories including kills, kills per set, total attacks and is third on her team in hitting percentage. Porath has been really good this season and she will look to continue her strong season with two highway-2 rivals on Thursday and Saturday.

• STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE. It's no secret that the NSIC is one of the best conferences in all of Division II Volleyball. It's also no secret that Minnesota Crookston has seen that first hand this season. The Golden Eagles opened the conference season with nine-time National champions and No. 5 Concordia-St. Paul. Since then, Minnesota Crookston has played five ranked teams and a Sioux Falls team who has been ranked earlier this season. This weekend, Minnesota Crookston plays host to Bemidji State and then travels to No. 3 Minnesota Duluth this weekend. The schedule continues to be strong for the Golden Eagles.


Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles
Head Coach: Sarah Rauen
Record at UMC: 15-62 Season at UMC: Third Season

Bemidji State at Minnesota Crookston
Date: Thurs., Oct. 31
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Video: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/crk/
Live Stats: https://goldeneaglesports.com/sidearmstats/wvball/media

Minnesota Crookston at Minnesota Duluth
Date: Sat., Nov. 2
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Video: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/umd/
Live Stats: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/umd/


#Tidbits
BEMIDJI STATE. The Beavers are coming into the match with the Golden Eagles on Halloween coming off arguably their biggest win in program history, defeating Wayne State in for sets on Saturday in Bemidji. The Wildcats were ranked eighth in the nation.

TOUCHE(TT). Bemidji State Senior Middle Blocker is having a stand out season in her role. Julie Touchett has 19 solo blocks on the season and 43 assist blocks totaling her stats at 62. She collected a season high in her game against University of Minnesota Duluth with 8 solo blocks and a total of 14. She is averaging about 1 block per set and will be looking to collect more in the battle against the Golden Eagles.

SHE'S A FORCE. Becky Schroeder, a junior in the Beavers lineup, has been killing it this season. With 208 kills on the season, she is leading her team with an average of nearly 3 per set. She had a season high game against Wheeling with 26 kills. As she continues to improve nearing her senior year, she will look to do not different to any of her upcoming opponents.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP. Senior Emma Hallman for the Beavers sure has been a life saver this season. Accumulating 322 digs on her last season so far, she is encroaching on her junior year stat of 393 digs for the season. Emma averages 4 digs per set and is expected to do no different heading into the final stretch of her season. She set a career high against Minot State earning 31 digs for the game.

MINNESOTA DULUTH. The Bulldogs are having an excellent season, coming into Saturday's match with the Golden Eagles at the top of the conference and ranked in the top-five nationally. It's going to be a stiff test for the Golden Eagles Saturday afternoon.

BERG'S THE BOSS. Kate Berg, the junior from Medina, is having a great season averaging her previous two. In her freshman and sophomore year, she earned 369 and 326 kills respectively. While averaging over 4 kills per set, Berg has a career high kill success percentage of 25.3%. She set her season high in kills against Northern State collecting a total of 27 kills. Not only is Kate a threat on offense, but also a defensive threat receiving 198 digs on the year so far.

DIG IT UP. The Bulldogs senior from Chaska, Minn., Keena Seiffert, has been a defensive threat to her opponents this season. Accumulating 363 digs so far, she is near to passing her second highest career record of 381 sets in a season. Averaging over 5 digs per set, it is impressive that she has only had 15 receiving errors this year. That puts her receiving percentage of 96.4% and Seiffert as an amazing defensive player for UMD.

THOR. The strength of Abby Thor, senior for the Bulldogs from Woodbury, has managed to earn 66 blocks for herself this season. Having 11 successful solo blocks, she has 55 assist blocks.