Women's Volleyball | 8/26/2026 9:39:00 AM

#TIDBITS

Golden Eagle volleyball will open up a brand new era this weekend in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Minnesota Crookston will see a new face roaming the sideline this season, as Kathleen Rustad takes over the program after an illustrious career at Hawley High School, where she won back-to-back state championships for the Nuggets. The Golden Eagles also will have a new face helping Rustad, as Sarah Dryburgh will be the lead assistant for the Golden Eagles after a prestigious coaching career at Fosston High School. The maroon and gold will head to Rapid City, S.D., this weekend for four non-conference matches to open up the season. Minnesota Crookston will see four familiar opponents this weekend, including NSIC opponent, Jamestown, in a non-conference match.

·   NEW ERA IN THE MAROON AND GOLD. Minnesota Crookston will have two new faces on the sideline this season. Head Coach Kathleen Rustad and assistant coach Sarah Dryburgh will lead the maroon and gold into a brand new era, starting this week in Rapid City. Both Rustad and Dryburgh won a lot of matches at the prep ranks and they will look to translate that to winning a lot of matches for Minnesota Crookston. Rustad takes over the Golden Eagles after winning back-to-back state titles at Hawley High School.

·   TIME FLIES. After having a massive junior season a year ago for the Golden Eagles, Madison Carsten heads into her senior year, hoping to double up on another big season. Carsten set career watermarks in almost every offensive category, including kills (343), kills per set (3.69), total attacks (1,224), attacking percentage (.178), points scored (372.5) and matches played (28). The now senior finished with 10 or more kills in 19 matches on the season, including a career-high 26 in a near-upset over then-ranked Minnesota Duluth. Carsten's 1,224 total attacks as a junior were the most in a season by a Golden Eagle since Brittany Looker in 2014, who finished with a whopping 1,350 total attacks, the same season Looker was named to the NSIC all-first team for the second straight year in 2014. If the Golden Eagles want to have success this season, one would think that Carsten would be right in the middle of that. The Wadena native has been a fixture in the lineup for the maroon and gold since stepping foot on campus in 2023.

·   LIVE LIKE LEXI. Lexi Scharold will enter her junior season as another player who will look to double up on a career year in 2025. Much like Carsten, Scharold set career-highs in kills (102), digs (21) and blocks (53). Scharold finished with 10 or more kills in two matches on the season, including 12 against Minnesota Duluth. Scharold has the ability to be a massive threat for the Golden Eagles this season.

·  YOUNGSTERS NO MORE. Minnesota Crookston will more than likely have to rely on some freshmen this season to play some meaningful sets. The Golden Eagles do have a number of solid returners coming back in Carsten, Scharold, Emma Malek, Kailee Waasdorp, Carizma Muth and others, but due to circumstances, there are some freshmen that will need to make impacts. Hannah Nesdahl and Brooklyn Gysbers are two that come to mind that could make an impact, but the Golden Eagles are hoping for more impacts from their young and talented freshmen this season.

• BACK TO THE BLACK HILLS. Minnesota Crookston will enter the 2026 season in a familiar place. The Golden Eagles will compete in South Dakota in non-conference play for the second time in three seasons. Minnesota Crookston competed at the Yellow Jacket Classic in 2024, where they went 1-3 with a win over Eastern New Mexico and a three set loss to their opponent on Friday, South Dakota Mines. The Golden Eagles will hope for a different four match outcome this weekend to open the season.

·   LEAN ON THE SENIORS. It will be an interesting roster this season for the Golden Eagles. The Golden Eagles will have seven seniors on the roster and will also have six freshmen, one junior and three sophomores. They will also have a pair of brand new coaches roaming the sidelines, which means they might have to rely on their seniors that have played a boatload of volleyball at the collegiate level. Madison Carsten, Emma Malek, Kailee Waasdorp, Megan Schoenfelder, Penelope Vertin and Carizma Muth will be relied upon to make plays this season for the Golden Eagles and show the youngsters the ropes.

• STYLE CHANGE? It might be obvious, but it is fair to assume that there will be a stylistic change to the Golden Eagles this season and into the future. Having an identity is super important to any collegiate program, no matter what the sport. Will the Golden Eagles be a high octane offense, a scrappy defensive team or a team that tries to get teams out of system? Only time will tell, but the Golden Eagles will try to find their identity as soon as possible.

·   TOE THE LINE. Minnesota Crookston will look to change the numbers when it comes to the service line this season. Minnesota Crookston wasn't necessarily bad at the service line last season, finishing with 109 service aces as a team, but had 178 service errors, their most since 2016 when the Golden Eagles finished with nearly 100 more service errors. The Golden Eagles will look to give their opponents less free points at the line this season.

Series Quick Look vs the opponents
Minnesota Crookston leads the all-time series with South Dakota Mines, 3-1.
Minnesota Crookston is 6-5 all-time against Lake Superior State
Jamestown leads 3-1 all-time over Minnesota Crookston
Minnesota Crookston won the first three against Chadron State, while the Eagles have won the last three matches

How to Follow

Watch Live -- https://rmacnetwork.com/sdmines/

Live Stats -- https://gorockers.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary

#OPPONENTOUTLOOK

SOUTH DAKOTA MINES. The Hardrockers and Golden Eagles will meet for the first time since 2024 and fifth meeting overall. Minnesota Crookston is 3-1 all-time against Mines and lost in three sets the last time these two programs met in 2024.  A year ago, South Dakota Mines got off to a dreadful 0-8 start on the season with four losses to ranked teams in those eight matches, but finished the season 10-8 following that stretch to finish 10-16.

KEY SPOT FILLED. The Hardrockers already have a key spot filled heading into 2026. Much like having a point guard in basketball, a quarterback in football, a goalie in hockey/soccer, a volleyball team needs a setter. Turns out, the Hardrockers have an excellent one in Hannah Joseph. The now senior from Indiana was fantastic last season, finishing with 651 assists on the year, including 109 in a two match span against Fort Lewis and CSU Pueblo. She finished with six double-doubles, as well and had a career-high 20 digs against Colorado School of Mines.

FRESHMAN PHENOM. The Hardrockers finished the season well and a big part of that success was due to the right arm of now sophomore Lexi Glendenning. The freshman was named to the RMAC All-Conference first team and ranked fourth in the RMAC in kills per set. She finished the year with 292 kills on the season and had 18 matches with more than 10 kills on the season.

LAKE SUPERIOR STATE. The Lakers will enter 2026 hoping for more success. The Lakers won just one match in 2025, a three set win over Roosevelt. The Golden Eagles and Lakers are familiar with each other, having played each other 11 times, dating back to 2007. The Golden Eagles have won the previous two matches, a four-set victory in 2023 and a sweep last season in Mankato.

HISTORY WITH THE MAROON AND GOLD. It's somewhat rare that two teams not in the same conference meet a lot per season, but that isn't the case with Lake Superior State and Minnesota Crookston. This will be the fourth meeting post-COVID between the Lakers and Golden Eagles and the 12th meeting overall. The Golden Eagles lead the all-time series 6-5 dating back to 2007, having won the last two.

NEW ERA. Much like Minnesota Crookston, Lake Superior State will have a new face on the sideline this season as they enter a new era, as well. Chelsea Cooke-Tripp takes over the Laker program following a one win season in 2025. Cooke-Tripp is a Michigan native that will look to bring the Lakers some success in the future after four seasons at Adams State University in Colorado. Cooke-Tripp and Kathleen Rustad will battle it out this weekend as first time collegiate head coaches.

JAMESTOWN. Jamestown and Minnesota Crookston will meet three different times this season, starting this Saturday in the Black Hills. This match will be a non-conference affair. This will be the fifth meeting between the two teams, with the Jimmies winning three of the first four, including a sweep in Crookston last year over the Golden Eagles.

BIG DIFFERENCE. Jamestown and Minnesota Crookston met in 2025 for the first time in 18 years and it turned out to be all Jimmies. Granted the first two sets were two point matches, the Jimmies ultimately ended up sweeping the Golden Eagles on Homecoming. In that match, UJ hit nearly 100 percentage points better than the Golden Eagles, finished with 15 more kills, 17 more assists and 19 more digs than the Golden Eagles in that match. The Golden Eagles will look to reverse that story this weekend in the Black Hills.

FIRST OF THREE. The Jimmies and Golden Eagles might feel like siblings by the end of this season. They just can't seem to get rid of each other. UJ and Minnesota Crookston will meet this weekend for the first of three matches this season, as the next two will be in conference play. The first look between the new conference opponents could tell the story of how the season series will go.

CHADRON STATE. The Eagles and Golden Eagles will meet for the seventh time this Saturday. Chadron State and Minnesota Crookston each have three wins against the other, with CSC sweeping the Golden Eagles a season ago. CSC last lost to Minnesota Crookston in 2007.

LET'S HEAD TO WARD 19. In last season's match, Mataya Ward was one of the best players on the floor for the Eagles. She finished with 10 kills on 27 total attacks against the maroon and gold and ended up leading CSC in kills, total attacks, kills per set, points per set and points scored. It should be a fun battle between Carsten and Ward on Saturday afternoon.

JACK AND JILLIAN. Having your best attacker and your all-conference caliber setter back in your lineup is a recipe for success. That's exactly what the Eagles have at their disposal this season. Jillian Donovan is back this year for her sophomore season and finished with 721 assists and 8.29 assists per set, both good for fourth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Lincoln, Neb., native finished with two matches of over 50 assists and three matches with 40 assists as a freshman.