Golden Eagles Finish Out Regular Season This Weekend


Minnesota Crookston wraps-up the 2019 regular season with two teams they have already seen this season in No. 6 Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State. The Golden Eagles met both of these teams for the very first conference weekend of the regular season, way back in late September, falling to both in three sets. This will be the final games of the careers for five Golden Eagle seniors. Kaitlin Sikkink, Ali Schueler, Sabrina Leuer, Alyssa Thomas and Meli Rodriguez.

• SEEN IT ALL. The Golden Eagles have three seniors who have been in Crookston for five seasons. Sabrina Leuer, Ali Schueler and Kaitlin Sikkink are all redshirt seniors and have gone through a coaching change throughout their time as a Golden Eagle. All three have left their mark on the program and have helped change the culture in a big way.

• FINISH STRONG. Minnesota Crookston will look to finish their 2019 regular season by playing the spoiler role. The Golden Bears are already locked into the NSIC playoffs and are a pretty good bet to make the NCAA tournament for yet another season. The Mavericks on the other hand, are a different story. Minnesota State is 10th in the conference and if the regular season ended today, they would not be in the NSIC postseason. This is a huge weekend for Minnesota State and although they need some help to make the conference tournament, the Golden Eagles can still play the fun role of spoiler.

• TOUGH TO GET BY. Led by Kaitlin Sikkink's 59.0 blocks on the season, the Golden Eagles have been one of the best team in the conference in terms of blocks. Individually, the Golden Eagles have six players with 20 or more blocks on the season, including the 59.0 from Sikkink and 40.0 from sophomore Lauren Wallace. Shelby Dunbar and Porsha Porath have contributed in a big way as well, accounting for 27.0 and 28.0 blocks, respectively. As a team, Minnesota Crookston has 252 blocks on the season, which is 63 more than their opponents. Minnesota Crookston will look to continue their success at the net this weekend.

• FINISH. This weekend against both the Golden Bears and Mavericks, the Golden Eagles will look to finish the job this weekend. A weekend ago, the Golden Eagles had a 17-10 lead against Upper Iowa, before the Peacocks called a timeout and went on a run to win the set. If the Golden Eagles can keep the foot on the gas pedal this weekend in their final games of the regular season, it could be in for a successful final two matches this Friday and Saturday.

• THAT'S A LOT OF DIGS. Rosemount, Minn., native Katie Lienemann leads the Golden Eagles in digs and digs per set. The junior has 318 digs on the season, good for 3.45 digs per set. It's been a breakout season for Lienemann, who also collected an astounding 39 digs against Minot State, which was just three away from breaking the record for most digs in a match by a Golden Eagle. Lienemann will look to continue her strong junior season in the final two matches.

• TWIN CITIES PROUD. Lauren Wallace (Bloomington, Minn.) and Deaira Gresham (Maplewood, Minn.) are both underclassmen for the Golden Eagles and they have enjoyed solid seasons. Both have over 100 kills on the season and are top-three in both kills and kills per set for Minnesota Crookston. Even though the Golden Eagles lose five important seniors, Wallace and Gresham provide a large glimmer of hope for the future of Golden Eagle volleyball.


Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles
Head Coach: Sarah Rauen
Record at UMC: 15-65 Season at UMC: Third Season

Minnesota Crookston at Concordia-St. Paul
Date: Fri., Nov. 15
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Ganglehoff Center
Video: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/csp/
Live Stats: https://cspbears.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary

Minnesota Crookston at Minnesota State
Date: Sat., Nov. 16
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Taylor Center
Video: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/mnsu/
Live Stats: https://msumavericks.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary


#Tidbits
CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL. The Golden Bears come into this weekend already clinched a spot in the NSIC playoffs. CSP is No. 6 in the AVCA Coaches Poll and are always a contender to win a National Championship in December.

CLIMB THE (MULVI)HILL. Jasmine Mulvihill is leading her team with 408 kills on the season so far. Averaging over 4 kills per set, Mulvihill is having a standout freshman year. Her accuracy of completed kills is over 30 percent. Not only is she a threat on offense, but also a great defensive threat for Concordia-St. Paul as well. Jasmine has also earned 167 digs and 73 blocks on the season.

THE BRADY BUNCH. A sophomore from Lakeville, Minnesota, Kennedy Brady is having a great defensive season. Wearing jersey number 14, Brady has also earned herself 198 kills. Brady, the 5'11 middle blocker for Concordia St. Paul has surpassed her freshman years total number of blocks by 48 and will look to continue adding to her total.

HAT TIP TO HANSON. Tori Hanson, the libero for Concordia St. Paul has earned 460 digs on her season so far. This junior from Delano, Minnesota has been improving her average each year at Concordia. Her freshman year she averaged 4.24 digs per set, and Tori's sophomore year she averaged 4.47 digs per set. This year, as a junior, Hanson is averaging 4.60 digs per set.

MINNESOTA STATE. The Mavericks are 10th in the conference with a 9-9 record. The Mavericks need some help this weekend and need to sweep in order to make the postseason. The Mavericks swept Minnesota Crookston early this season in Lysaker Gymnasium.

MORGAN MATTERS. Morgan Olson, senior for Mankato from Annandale, Minn., is leading her team in kills with 392. Olson is averaging almost 5 kills per set. She is an obvious offensive threat for the Mavericks; however, Olson is also a great defensive player. Earning herself 84 digs and 57 blocks.

DIGS FOR QUAM. The junior from Kenyon, Minn., is leading the team in digs. Mara Quam has earned herself 405 digs for her season so far. Quam is earning herself over 4.5 digs per set. As Mara moves through her junior year she will look to continue racking in the digs as the defensive specialist and libero for the Mavericks lineup.


MEET ME AT THE NET. Anissa Janzig, is leading the Mavericks in blocks. Anissa is from Wells, Minn., The 6'0 Senior has accumulated 73 blocks for her team. Since Mankato has 162 blocks as an entire team, Janzig has earned almost half of those.