Women's Volleyball | 10/23/2025 10:38:00 AM

#TIDBITS

Golden Eagle volleyball is back at home this weekend as they wrap-up their brief three match home stand with a pair of quality opponents coming to town in nationally ranked Southwest Minnesota State and Sioux Falls, who just beat SMSU in four sets on Tuesday night. This season has flown by. The Golden Eagles have just four home matches left this season and following this weekend, will have just six matches left; four on the road and two at home to close the season.

·   IT'S RARE IF SHE DOESN'T GET A DOUBLE-DOUBLE. Madison Carsten is undoubtedly putting up offensive numbers that would put her top five all-time in a single season for Minnesota Crookston in the Division II era. The junior has double-digit kills in all but four matches this season and has 11 double-doubles on the season.  Carsten has seven straight matches with more than 10 kills, including her unreal performance of 26 kills against Minnesota Duluth, which was just four shy of breaking the school record.

·   LS AS THE DS. Redshirt freshman Lauren Schnettler didn't see much court time during the early part of the season, but that has changed as of late. The second year player from Clarissa, Minn., played in all three sets against MSU Moorhead and tied a career high with eight digs and set a new career high with two service aces. The Golden Eagles seem to have something with Schnettler in the back row.

·   LS AT THE MB. The Golden Eagles have Lauren Schnettler in the back row with the initials 'LS' and they also have an 'LS' in the front row with Lexi Scharold. The sophomore from Kentucky has been really good as of late for the Golden Eagles. Starting with her career match against Minnesota Duluth three matches ago, Scharold has 22 kills in three matches and has two double digit kill outputs on the season, both in conference play.

·  EFFICIENT ELLERY. Freshman Ellery Ehresmann has come along nicely throughout this season and has seemed to find her groove in an important position in the toughest conference in all of Division II. Ehresmann has 60 assists in her previous three matches, all while splitting time with Dana Melby at that spot. In that stretch as well, the Albany, Minn., native has 25 digs and a service ace in all three of those previous matches. Ehresmann has made a positive impact at the setter position this year for the maroon and gold.

• MALEK IS NO MYSTERY. Speaking of playing well, that's exactly what Emma Malek has done. Malek and Scharold have been fantastic in the middle as of late on the attacking side of the ball. Malek finished with seven kills in the loss to MSU Moorhead and has been very consistent all year long, having 15 matches with five or more kills on the year. Malek is averaging just below eight kills per match in her last five matches.

·   ANOTHER SCARE AGAINST THE RANKED FOE? The last time Minnesota Crookston played a ranked foe in the friendly confines of Lysaker Gymnasium, they gave Minnesota Duluth a massive scare, giving the then-No. 17 Bulldogs all they could handle in a five set defeat. This Friday night, it will be another ranked opponent for the Golden Eagles, who will look to play very similar to the way they did last Thursday night against UMD.

• STRONGER IN THE FRONT. This time around, Minnesota Crookston will be looking for much better execution when Sioux Falls comes to town on Saturday. The Golden Eagles allowed USF to have an attacking percentage of over .450 and USF was able to have their way with the Golden Eagles. Minnesota Crookston will hope that the Cougars have a tougher time this time around.

·   CANCER AWARENESS NIGHT. Minnesota Crookston volleyball and Minnesota Crookston SAAC will partner for Cancer Awareness Weekend on Saturday for their match with the Cougars. It's a tradition for schools all across America to raise money for such a good cause and that is what the Golden Eagles will do this weekend at their soccer match on Friday against Minnesota State and for volleyball against USF. If you are coming to the match, wear pink and help us raise money for cancer awareness.

Series Quick Look vs the opponents
SMSU is 35-1 against the Golden Eagles

Sioux Falls leads the all-time series 15-2

How to Follow

No. 15 SMSU @ Minnesota Crookston
Friday, Oct. 24
6 P.M.
Crookston, Minn. / Lysaker Gymnasium
Live Stats -- https://goldeneaglesports.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
Watch Live -- https://nsicnetwork.com/goldeneaglesports/

Sioux Falls @ Minnesota Crookston
Saturday, Oct. 25
2 P.M.
Crookston, Minn. / Lysaker Gymnasium
Live Stats -- https://goldeneaglesports.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
Watch Live -- https://nsicnetwork.com/goldeneaglesports/

#OPPONENTOUTLOOK

SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE. It doesn't happen very often, but SMSU has lost two matches in a row, falling to Wayne State College and Sioux Falls, both in four sets.  The Mustangs are 6-6 in the NSIC and set in seventh place, which is also uncharted territory for the perennial power. SMSU will be there in the end. All six of their NSIC losses have been to teams that have either been ranked or have been receiving votes this season in the national polls.

DIG IT OUT. SMSU might be one of the best defensive teams in the entire nation, let alone the NSIC. Currently, they rank first in the NSIC in digs per set with over 17 per set as a team, which is also helped by them being third in the NSIC in teams block per set at 2.12 as a team. They also allow opponents to have an attacking percentage of just .185, which also ranks in the top five in the NSIC. All three of those categories rank in the top 55 nationally.

BEST IN THE BIZ. SMSU setter Sydney Thein is one of the best in the nation. She has 856 assists on the season, which put her first in the conference and fourth in the nation. Her 11.5 assists per set also put her fourth in the nation and her passing and running the offense is a big factor in the Mustangs attacking percentage ranking 21st nationally.

SIOUX FALLS. Much like SMSU, the Cougars come into this weekend with a 6-6 conference record, with two of those wins coming against their travel partner, SMSU. It was the first time ever that the Cougars swept the Mustangs and USF is in prime position to make the NSIC tournament this season with a strong finish.

DOMINANT SECOND AND THIRD SETS. In that win over SMSU, it was the second and third sets for USF that really turned the tide the way of USF. USF hit .361 in the second set and then hit just a modest .291 in the third set in a 25-20 win (hopefully you can get the sarcasm in that). USF then won the fourth set by a pair. It was a historic win for USF who will look to continue their momentum this weekend on the road.

WALK THE WALK. Ella Walker is having a really outstanding season for the Cougars. USF has a number of attackers that can hurt you on any given night, but the redshirt freshman is fifth in the NSIC in attacking percentage, but is just fourth on her team in total kills. That speaks to how dangerous the Cougars are. It's pick your poison on any given night.