University Chronicle Extras:
Movies
|
Student Resources
|
Vote 04
|
Career
|
Scholarships
|
GradZone
News
Briefly
Calendar of Events
Commentary
Opinions
Sports
Diversions
World News
Classifieds
Login
Letter Submission
Search
Archive
Publishing Policy
Mail Subscriptions
St. Cloud State University
College Publisher
Home
>
Sports
Huskies running on fumes
By Ben Dunsmoor
Published:
Monday, October 14, 2002
The conference schedule for the Husky volleyball team has not gone their way.
The match on Friday night against No. 10 South Dakota State was the Huskies fourth consecutive match against a nationally-ranked team in the past five matches, and the second time in three weeks they have faced SDSU.
The Huskies were optimistic going into the match against the Jackrabbits because of some success in their earlier meeting against SDSU. The crowd in Brookings, S.D. was too much for the Huskies Friday night though, as SCSU lost their seventh straight match of the season, and sixth straight in the NCC, 3-0 (30-19, 30-22, 30-18.
Junior setter Kari Turkowski had 20 sets and eight digs in the match, while Kari’s junior teammate Jane Backes had nine kills. The sophomore contributors for SCSU were Leah herrboldt, with eight kills, and Megan Hardy who chipped in with 11 digs.
A trip to Mankato was scheduled for the Huskies on Saturday to take on the 11-12 Minnesota State, Mankato Mavericks. The Huskies put up a challenge for the Mavs winning a close game three, 31-29. Mankato won three games though, and won the match 3-1 (30-18, 30-24, 29-31, 30-23).
Leading the Huskies in kills were Backes with 11, Turkowski with eight, and Herrboldt laid down seven. Hardy again led the team with 20 digs, and Turkowski who was all over the court, had 10 digs of her own. Turkowski also had 31 sets, bringing her season total to 499.
Despite the outcome of the match against Mankato, the Huskies feel that taking game three and putting up a good fight the entire match was a major accomplishment.
“That was the best we’ve played so far this year,” sophomore hitter Lindsay Ashburn said. “We really competed with them. We stayed with them throughout the match, and we just never let down.”
Junior hitter Cara Bartolic also had the same feelings about the match with the Mavs, especially game three.
“We actually started to get the feeling that we’re meshing together,” she said. “The attitude and the energy at that time on the court was just incredible, and I think we finally figured out what we can do as a young new team, and carry that over to more matches.”
Even though the Huskies’ record fell to 3-13 overall, and a bottom-feeding 0-7 in the conference, there were good things that happened on that court in Mankato Saturday night. SCSU believes that this good play will set the tone for the rest of the season.
“We found some sort of comfort zone with each other,” Bartolic said. “We got comfortable with each other, started getting more intense and trusting, and agressive because we could count on each other.”
“We took a huge step Saturday night as far as playing together as a team,” Ashburn said.
The Huskies hope these aspects of their positive play will carry over into their next matches at Halenbeck Hall against the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and the University of South Dakota next Friday and Saturday. The home crowd should also benefit the Huskies, as this young team looks for their first victory.
The most important part of the weekend’s matches however, was that his team was having fun again.
“When we play together, it is really fun out there,” Ashburn said.
