Women's Volleyball | 10/3/2024 9:49:00 AM

#TIDBITS

Golden Eagle volleyball will finally have their first home weekend of the 2024 season this weekend. The Golden Eagles have been on the road for 10 of their 11 games and will surely be happy to be inside Lysaker Gymnasium this weekend. Once again, it is a pair of quality opponents for the Golden Eagles. Minnesota Crookston welcomes in top-10 Wayne State College on Friday and welcomes in Augustana, who the Golden Eagles have never beaten in NSIC play. The Golden Eagles will look for some home cooking this weekend.

·   THE STREAK LIVES ON. Minnesota Crookston has a wildly impressive streak that has lasted for 11 matches this season and for 17 matches dating back to last season. All-in-all, the Golden Eagles have a 28-match streak with at least a service ace and they were just barely able to keep it alive on Saturday, finishing with one service ace against Concordia-St. Paul.

• MORE RANKED FOES. Another weekend for the Golden Eagles, another ranked opponent for Minnesota Crookston. Top-10 Wayne State College comes into town this Friday. The Wildcats will already be the third ranked opponent the Golden Eagles have played in their four conference matches. The NSIC is the best conference in Division II and the Golden Eagles will see quality opponents all season long.

·  LEAVE THE DIGGING TO THE PROFESSIONALS. Minnesota Crookston has been solid in a number of different areas this season. One area they have been really good in has been in the back row. Whether it has been Kailee Waasdorp, Bailey Schaefer, Carizma Muth or Madison Carsten, the Golden Eagles have been really good defensively. The Golden Eagles currently have over 17 digs per set, which is third in the conference and 26th nationally. The Golden Eagles have over 700 digs on the season, led by the 203 from the star sophomore, Waasdorp.

·   GETTING THE SWINGS.  Part of being so good defensively is that you're going to get more chances at a point on a rally. That has been true this season. The Golden Eagles are second in the NSIC in attacks per set at over 38 attacks per set, which ranks just three attacks behind Southwest Minnesota State, arguably the best team in the NSIC. The flipside to that is the Golden Eagles would like to put more attacks away. Minnesota Crookston has just 11.15 kills per set, which puts them 12th in the Northern Sun. If the Golden Eagles can put away some more of those chances, they should be able to get some big wins in the NSIC.

·    ATTACKING PERCENTAGE. We just talked about how the Golden Eagles would like to put more of those attacks away. Although that is true, what is also true is the Golden Eagles might have the best offensive attack they have had in a long time. As a team, the Golden Eagles have a .172 attacking percentage and have five attackers that are hitting above .150, led by Maya Jones, who is hitting .273 on more than 100 attacks. Lexi Scharold has been a big part of that solid attacking percentage as well, as the Alexandria, Kent., native is hitting .230. The Golden Eagles attacking percentage would be the highest for the Golden Eagles since they hit .193 as a team in 2014.

·   THE BLUEGRASS STATE. Let's continue to talk about freshman Lexi Scharold. The native of Kentucky has formed a solid duo in the middle with sophomore Emma Malek, who has 62 kills and 20 blocks on the season. Scharold has 63 kills on the season and has 15 blocks on the season and has just two matches this season where she hasn't had a block. Scharold and Malek have combined for more than 120 kills on the season and 35 blocks, which is pretty good for a pair of underclassmen. The Golden Eagles might have their duo in the middle for years to come.

• TEVEL(DO-IT)AL. Freshman Baily Teveldal has started from day one and she has gotten better and better with experience in the Northern Sun. Teveldal currently has 349 assists on the season, which ranks eighth among setters in the NSIC. The Baltic, S.D., native has four matches with more than 40 assists on the season, including a career best 54 earlier this year against Black Hills State. Teveldal has also been good defensively as of late, with 45 digs in her last seven matches. Teveldal has two double-doubles on the season.

·   ROCK THE SHIP. When Augustana comes to town on Saturday afternoon, they will look to continue a pair of impressive streaks against Minnesota Crookston, while the Golden Eagles will look to snap that pair of streaks. The Vikings have won 24 straight matches against the Golden Eagles and have not lost a set to Minnesota Crookston since 2015. The young Golden Eagles will look to rock the ship of the Vikings and knock off the Vikings at home on Saturday.


Team Information
2024 Record: 3-8


How to Follow

No. 6 Wayne State College @ Minnesota Crookston
Friday, Oct. 4
6 P.M.
Crookston, Minn. / Lysaker Gymnasium
Live Stats -- https://goldeneaglesports.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
Watch live -- https://nsicnetwork.com/goldeneaglesports/


Augustana @ Minnesota Crookston
Saturday, Oct. 5
2 P.M.
Crookston, Minn. / Lysaker Gymnasium
Live Stats -- https://goldeneaglesports.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
Watch live -- https://nsicnetwork.com/goldeneaglesports/


#OPPONENTOUTLOOK

WAYNE STATE. The Wildcats have always been a consistent program. In recent years, they have turned into one of the best programs in the nation. Scott Kneifl is in his 20th season at the helm of the Wildcats and has 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, two Elite Eight appearances and a National Coach of the Year Award winner to his name. The Wildcats are 10-2 overall and 4-0 in the NSIC. The Wildcats are looking to make another deep run in the NCAA Tournament this season.

BELLER IS BALLING. The Wildcats bring back a ton of experience from last year's squad that won the NCAA Central Region and advanced to the Elite Eight. Senior Taya Beller is among those important pieces. The Lindsay, Neb., native leads her team in kills with 144 and has more than 10 kills in all but one match this season. Beller is one of the best players in the conference and leads the pack for the 'Cats.

STARTS WITH THE SERVE. If you're new to volleyball, you would be shocked that a rally starts with a serve, so teams would be better served to be good at both serving and serve receive. As it turns out, the Wildcats are fantastic at both. WSC currently has 79 service aces on the season and have a serve receive percentage of .928, compared to .912 for their opponents. The solid serving and serve receive helps the Wildcats steal some points.

DOES SHE EVER MISS? Sophomore Channatee Robles has been fantastic all season long and when the Wildcats give her a bite at the apple, there's a good chance she'll get her team a point. The Nebraska native is hitting .249 on the season and has 117 kills in over 330 total attacks. Robles has been fantastic defensively as well, as she is second on the Wildcats in digs with 99.

AUGUSTANA. The Vikings are 7-6 on the year and are 3-1 in the Northern Sun. The Vikings have played three straight matches that have gone five sets, going 1-2 in those matches, with both of the losses coming to top-25 teams in Southwest Minnesota State and Northern State. It's another really good opponent coming in on Saturday afternoon.

THE JANSEN JOURNAL. Reagan Jansen has been outstanding this season for the Vikings. The sophomore from Sioux Center, Iowa, leads her team in kills with 157 and kills per set (3.02). Jansen has 17 kills in a pair of matches this season and is averaging just over 15 kills per match in her last three matches. Jansen also has 48 digs in her last three matches.

WENTE HELPS YOU WIN. Maya Wente has proved to be a pretty good player alongside Jansen. Wente has 155 kills on the season, just two behind Jansen. The Canby, Minn., native has also been really good the last three weekends, as she has five straight matches with 10 or more kills. The Golden Eagles will look to slow down Wente and Jansen this weekend.

HOMEGROWN. Sioux Falls native Sydney Tims is putting up video game-like numbers this season for the Vikings. Her attacking numbers might not stand out to the eye, but if you take a look at her defensive numbers, they're astonishing. The junior has 64 blocks on the year, which is second in the conference and stands 11th in the entire nation. Tims has at least two blocks in every match this season and has eight matches this season with five or more blocks, which is an astounding number. It's been tough for opponents to hit around the 6-1 frame of Sydney Tims.