|
SCSU ends rebuilding year
Foundation is hopefully built for volleyball team next season after down year.
By Ben Dunsmoor
The Husky volleyball team didn’t end the season and head coach’s Dianne Glowatzke’s career as they had hoped.
Friday night the Huskies traveled to Fargo to take on No. 17 North Dakota State University and couldn’t manage to get two straight NCC wins. The Bison swept the Huskies 3-0 (30-25, 30-23, 30-18).
“It didn’t seem like we were gelling,” junior hitter Jane Backes said. “The passing and defense were OK, but it just didn’t seem like we were putting things together.”
Backes had a decent night on the volleyball court with four kills and five digs. Other big stat leaders for the Huskies were Leah Herrboldt with 13 kills and 11 digs. Junior Kari Turkowski had another stellar performance in the match with nine kills, 25 sets and seven digs.
SCSU finished their season with a final record of 4-21 and 1-15 in the conference. The record is deceiving for this team that was in a “rebuilding year.”
“I think that we’ve improved,” Backes said. “In my three years of being here I think this is the most we’ve improved in one season.”
Glowatzke finished up her 26 year career at SCSU on Friday. Her final cumulative record came to a halt at 527-418. She was named Coach of the Year twice in her career. In 1985 she was the NCC coach of the year, and in 1995 she was named North Central Region Coach of the Year. When asked if this was one of her best seasons, despite the record, she gave a resounding yes.
“We’ve got a group of players that are very close and who like each other,” Glowatzke said. “I think that any coach will tell you that there are some years that your players aren’t going to get along. This is a classy group of players though, and they’re going to go far.”
Backes agrees that the drive that this team has, and the will to always give 110 percent, is what made this season fun.
“We never gave up, ever,” she said. “I think that was so important for us to keep getting better. If we had ever given up at the beginning of the season it wouldn’t have been very fun. It was so much more enjoyable every single day in practice and every single match that we played. We just came together as a team.”
This season was successful in the eyes of the Huskies. They improved so much over the duration of the season. They never gave up and that all gives them motivation going into the off-season. This season will help them make a surge to the top of the NCC next year.
“It (the improvement over the season) makes us so much more excited for next season, and we really look forward to next year,” Backes said. “We’ve really made a solid foundation for next year.”
“You’ve got to be proud of a group that hasn’t given up, especially with the record that we have,” Glowatzke said. “So many teams we could have folded and just played out the season.”
If you look at the record the Huskies have accumulated over the season, it doesn’t look like they had much success. This young, senior-less, team has improved immensely over the course of the year. They’ve worked hard, matured and have never given up. This attitude and drive that SCSU posseses should translate into more success in the NCC next year.
“We’ve experienced winning,” Backes said. “We know what we need to do to improve. I’m really excited for next season. I think we’re going to do a lot better and have a lot of fun.”
|
|
|
|
Privacy Policy Network Advertising Article Syndication
|
|
