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Frustration builds in Huskies NCC opener
By Adam Czech
The NCC schedule-makers showed no mercy on the young SCSU volleyball team, as they scheduled a road match against the sixth ranked University of Northern Colorado (UNC) Bears for the Huskies NCC opener.
For second-year SCSU spiker Megan Hardy, who had nine digs in the contest against UNC, it really didn't matter who or where the Huskies opened against as long the NCC season got underway.
"I just wanted to go out and play," she said. "They (UNC) were a big team and a very experienced team. I felt we played well against them though."
"It was good for us," said second-year hitter Leah Herrboldt. "Plus we played pretty good against them."
Unfortunately for SCSU, good wasn't quite good enough against the 12-1 Bears. UNC swept SCSU, 30-20, 30-18 and 30-26.
The Huskies jumped out to an early 4-2 lead in game one, and were well within striking distance at 18-17 at the mid-way point of the opening tilt. However, UNC senior outside hitter Teale Goble sparked a rally that saw the Bears' lead grow to 25-17 before finally taking the opening contest 30-20.
UNC never trailed in winning the second game but found itself trailing 20-19 to the Huskies in game three. UNC junior Erin Deffenbaugh then reeled off a pair of aces to ignite the Bears to a narrow 30-26 win.
Third-year setter and co-captain Kari Turkowski notched 12 kills, 26 set assists and eight digs in the contest. Third-year outside hitter Jane Backes also added a dozen kills. Herrboldt chipped in with eight kills and nine digs.
The Huskies then traveled to the Dakota Dome, on the campus of the University of South Dakota (USD), for a match against the Coyotes. SCSU entered the match with a 27-5 lifetime mark against USD, but was unable to gain any momentum and dropped the match in three games, 30-22, 30-25 and 30-17.
"There was a lot of traveling this weekend so that was kind of rough," Herrboldt noted. "We still played a pretty good game against them (USD)."
Backes tallied 13 kills for the Huskies, while Herrboldt added 12. The always reliable Turkowski continued to put up big numbers with 32 set assists and five kills.
However, the Huskies most important stat: wins and losses, dropped. SCSU is now 3-8 overall, and 0-2 in the NCC. This isn't exactly how the Huskies wanted to follow up a strong showing at last weekend's North Central Region Crossover Tournament.
Despite the youth of the squad (there are no seniors on this year's roster) the Huskies know what they need to work on in order to start adding to the win column.
"Communication," Hardy said. "We need to keep talking. There was a lot of confusion on the court this weekend."
"Getting the middles more involved," Herrboldt added. "Also just running a quick offense."
The schedule-makers continue to torment SCSU as the Huskies will take on 20th-ranked Augustana College and second-ranked South Dakota State University this coming weekend at Halenbeck Hall.
Even though the Huskies are young, they realize that worrying about the tough schedule will get them nowhere. The Huskies hope that following Megan Hardy's lead and just wanting to go out and play will eventually produce a much needed win. Otherwise SCSU could be on the bottom, looking up, the rest of the NCC season.
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