Golden Eagle Volleyball Wraps up Non-Conference Slate at the Best Western Plus Kelly Inn Huskies Volleyball Classic


The Minnesota Crookston volleyball team heads back on the road for their final four non-conference games of the season. The Golden Eagles will compete in the Best Western Kelly Inn Huskies Volleyball Classic, hosted by NSIC rival St. Cloud State University. After winning their regular season opener in five sets over Wisconsin-Parkside, the Golden Eagles dropped three straight, including two five-set thrillers against Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan. This weekend, the Golden Eagles will play two ranked teams in 14th ranked Wheeling University and 21st ranked Michigan Tech, who defeated the Golden Eagles in three sets last Friday night. The Golden Eagles and the Cardinals of Wheeling University will do battle at 9 A.M., on Friday Morning.

• ACE, ACE IN YOUR FACE. It may be early, but one improvement the Golden Eagles have seen this year have been at the service line. In 2018, the Golden Eagles were 15th in the NSIC in service aces with 102 services aces in 98 sets. This season, through just four matches and 18 sets, the maroon and gold are 6th in the conference with 33, good for almost two service aces per set. A big reason for the improvement so far as been senior Meli Rodriguez. The Sarchi, Costa Rica native leads the team with 10 service aces, after not having a single one last season.

• ALI "ACES" SCHUELER. Speaking of service aces, Schueler is seventh in the conference in aces per set. Although Rodriguez leads the team in aces, Schueler has 0.54 aces per set. Kassandra Springer of Sioux Falls has a whopping 18 aces, which puts her at 1.50 aces per set.

• REMATCH. Last weekend, the Golden Eagles played two teams that they will see this weekend as well. Michigan Tech and Lake Superior State head to St. Cloud, Minn., and much like last week, will see the Golden Eagles. Both the Huskies and Lakers defeated the Golden Eagles in three and five sets, respectively. This weekend, the Golden Eagles will look to avenge those losses and get quite possibly a statement win over 21st ranked Michigan Tech.

• NO INVITATION NEEDED TO THE BLOCK PARTY. There usually isn't an invitation to Kaitlin Sikkink and Lauren Wallace's block party, however if you're an opponent, that usually is a party you don't want to attend. The Sikkink and Wallace duo were outstanding preventing attacks in the first four games of the regualar season. The two combined for 22.0 blocks on the weekend, led by Sikkink's 14.0, which leads the team through the first weekend. Sikkink was especially dominant in the first game of the regular season, in a win over Wisconsin-Parkside, where she recorded 6.0 blocks. The two will look to continue their strong start to the season this weekend.

• ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM. Sophomore outside hitter Porsha Porath showed glimpses last season of being a very good player in the future for head coach Sarah Rauen. This past weekend, Porath proved that those glimpses weren't just a flash in the pan. The Windom, Minn., native collected 45 kills on 179 attacks on her way to the Keweenaw Classic All-Tournament team. Porath collected double-digit kills in three of the four games, including a season-high 16 against the Wildcats of Northern Michigan. Last season, Porath finished the season with 147 kills through 28 matches and she is well on her way to that mark this season.

• DOUBLE DUTY. Deaira Gresham, a junior from Maplewood, Minn., had a fantastic weekend as well in Houghton, Mich. Gresham also finished the weekend with 45 kills, which is tied for Porath for the team lead. More impressive might have been her defensive numbers, however. Gresham is second on the team with 39 digs through four matches and had a career-high 19 digs in a five-set loss to Northern Michigan. Gresham plays all six rotations and will look to continue her solid all-around play this weekend in St. Cloud.

• SABRINA IS SOLID. Sabrina Leuer was another Golden Eagle who had a solid weekend in the Upper Peninsula. The redshirt senior from Hamel, Minn., collected 12 kills on 45 attacks and had six against the Rangers of Wisconsin-Parkside. Leuer was a force defensively as well, collecting 7.0 blocks over the first four games.


Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles
Head Coach: Sarah Rauen
Record at UMC: 12-48 Season at UMC: Third Season

Best Western Kelly Inn Huskies Volleyball Classic
Participating Teams
St. Cloud State 4-0
Bemidji State 3-1
Michigan Tech 3-1
Minnesota-Crookston 1-3
Minnesota-Duluth 3-1
Lake Superior State 2-2
South Dakota Mines 1-3
Wheeling University  3-1


Wheeling University
Friday, Sept. 13
9 A.M.

2019 Record....3-1
Mountian East Record.....0-0
Head Coach: Christy Benner


Lake Superior State
Friday, Sept. 13
1:30 P.M.

2019 Record......2-2
GLIAC Record......0-0
Head Coach: Dave Schmidlin


Michigan Tech
Saturday, Sept. 14
11 A.M.

2019 Record.........3-1
GLIAC Record......0-0
Head Coach: Matt Jennings


South Dakota State School of Mines and Technology
Saturday, Sept. 15
5 P.M.

2018 Record.....1-3
RMAC Record.....0-0
Head Coach: Lauren Torvi-Prochazka


#Tidbits
WHEELING UNIVERSITY. The  13th ranked Cardinals will travel just about 1,000 miles to compete in the Huskies Classic. Much like the Golden Eagles, the Cardinals had a first tough weekend of the 2019 season in terms of opponents. Wheeling went 3-1 at the West Florida Invitational in Pensacola, Fla. The Cardinals only blemish was to #3 Western Washington in four sets.

MAGNIFICENT MEYER.  Cassie Meyer is one of those players who can dominate at any time for the Cardinals. The junior from Jackson Center, Ohio had 190 attacks last weekend, including a whopping 20 kills on 62 attacks in the Cardinals four-set victory over West Florida.

DOMINANCE. The Cardinals have been a staple as one of the dominant volleyball programs in division II. Wheeling University has been to the national tournament every year since 2011, including winning their first national title in 2015, when they beat Palm Beach Atlantic in three sets.

LAKE SUPERIOR STATE. The Lakers finished last season with just five wins. The Golden Eagles defeated the Lakers three sets to two, which was one of seven straight losses to start the season for LSSU. The Lakers are no stranger to playing five set matches. Last season, the Lakers played in 13 matches that went to five sets and went 4-9 in those matches and defeated the Golden Eagles in five sets last Saturday in Houghton, Mich.

REID RETURNS. It's no secret that Amanda Reid is the dominant force for the Lakers. She proved that last weekend by recording 68 kills in four matches. That is by far a team high and the closest is junior outside hitter Sarah Bailey with 31 kills. In a five set win over UMary, Reid got 83 total attacks and finished with 30 kills, which was a career high, surpassing her previous high of 21, which was set last season. Reid had 15 kills in the match last weekend against the Golden Eagles.

THINGS CHANGE. This season, the Lakers will have to replace two players who were numbers one and three in digs last season. Paige Gotham and Mikala Williams graduated last season, but not before leaving behind 784 combined digs behind them. That is a lot of digs to replace for the Lakers, but if they want to have a better 2019, someone is going to have to step up in the backrow.

MICHIGAN TECH HUSKIES. The Huskies are back in the AVCA Coaches poll this weekend after going 3-1 last weekend at the Keweenaw Volleyball Classic. The Huskies only defeat came at the hand of the NSIC, in Upper Iowa. The Huskies are ranked 21st in the nation heading into this weekend.

GHORMLEY'S GOOD. Olivia Ghormley had a really good weekend for the Huskies and she will look to continue that this weekend. The junior from Oneida, Wis., had a solid weekend, finishing with 60 kills. Ghormley is in her third season in Houghton and will look to repeat her strong sophomore season, where she was on a variety of standout lists, including: AVCA All-America Third Team, AVCA All-Midwest Region, D2CCA Second Team All-Region, GLIAC Attacker of the Year, All-GLIAC First Team, Google Cloud Academic Division II All-District Volleyball First Team, as well as being named to the GLIAC All-Academic Team.

DYNAMIC DUO. The Huskies will look to the duo of Olivia Ghormley and Anna Jonynas for a lot of their offense. The two have a combined 286 total attacks early on in the season and have 105 combined kills through four matches. The Golden Eagles will look to keep those two in check this weekend in St. Cloud.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE SCHOOL OF MINES & TECHNOLOGY. The Hardrockers come into this weekend with a 1-3 record. The Hardrockers defeated Montana State Billings in their first game of the season.

DIFFERENT LOOK. The Hardrockers use a different look by using two setters. Shyann Bastian and Addie Stanley both average over four assists per set and give the opponents a different look.
ATTACKING HAZARD. Caryn Hazard has made a huge impact for the Hardrockers. Hazard has 45 kills through four matches. Expect Hazard to continue to make an impact offensivelyy for the Hardrockers.