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St. Cloud State University
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Volleyball squad wins two more
Huskies reach .500 after going 2-1 in Crossover Tournament
By Jason Corn
Published:
Monday, September 15, 2003
Kari Turkowski
This weekend the SCSU women's volleyball team boarded a bus bound for Nebraska to participate in the annual Crossover Tournament, marking a pivotal point in the Huskies' season.
Breaking practice on Wednesday, the team took a 4-5 record into weekend competition, their four wins matching the team's entire total from last year. The North Central Regional tournament presented the Huskies' a realistic opportunity to bring their record to an even .500 at a mark of 6-6. The opportunity was seized to the fullest as SCSU ended up 2-1 for the tournament.
The weekend started well, with the Huskies producing a Friday afternoon win against the University of Minnesota-Crookston (30-20, 25-30, 30-28, and 30-20). Captain Kari Turkowski led the Huskies with 15 kills and 33 set assists, but the real story was her potent supporting cast. Even with senior outside hitter Jane Backes sitting the tournament out because of a severe migraine, the point production remained healthy as junior Leah Herrboldt chipped in with 11 digs and 12 kills and sophomore Angie Mayers added 14 kills of her own. The absence of team standout Backes meant that other younger teammates would have to fill her production vacuum. That's exactly the way SCSU rookie coach Patricia Mickow used freshmen Kelly Larkin and Deanna Pieper, as both girls responded well to their playing time this weekend.
"I honestly was proud and impressed with the way that Kelly Larkin (freshman outside-hitter) and Deanna Pieper (freshman middle-hitter) responded in the playing time they had," Mickow said. "They really helped us cover for the production we lost (by losing Backes), and played an important role in our success this weekend."
The second half of Friday's double header didn't fair as well, and marked the low point of the team's weekend. Facing a tough University of Minnesota-Moorhead team, the Huskies valiantly won the first two games of the match, committing only five hitting errors in the two games combined. However, fatigue perhaps started to take its toll on the weary squad as their well-oiled machine started to sputter. Games three and four were both nail biters, but the girls were edged both times, coming up short 30-26 and 30-24. In the fifth and final set, SCSU jumped ahead 5-0, but again showing possible signs of fatigue, they watched their early lead slip away. After a well-fought battle, the team eventually came up on the losing end of an exciting contest by the tally of 16-14.
"That was really a tough one to take; we really did kind of give the game away, but both teams really gave it everything," Mickow said. "I was very happy with the effort though, and Kari (Turkowski) really showed some veteran leadership out there when she needed to."
After having a full night to stew and contemplate the tough loss, SCSU came out Saturday with a vengeance to finish the tournament with their only scheduled Saturday game against Wayne State.
The Saturday match carried some added pressure, giving the squad a chance to come home with a respectable 6-6 record. Looking fresh and well-rested, the girls came out and took the first game of the match. Despite losing the second game, the Huskies rebounded nicely, taking the final two games to win the match (30-27, 21-30, 30-20, 30-20).
Turkowski showed determination and fire en route to chalking up her first triple-double of the weekend, tallying 15 kills, 49 assists, and 11 digs, while adding two blocking assists to boot. RaeAnne Stanley (freshman middle-hitter) and Lindsay Ashburn (junior outside-hitter) also added important contributions in the Huskies' important clutch win.
With the Huskies now one third of the way through their season, the remainder of the schedule is tough, but familiar. While St. Cloud may have the talent to surpass their team goal of a .500 record, coach Mickow puts it into perspective.
"I'd optimistically like to think that we can get to .500, and I'd like nothing more than to go as far over that mark as we can," Mickow said, when asked about her prediction for the rest of the season.
As the Huskies now gear up for a game September 16 against Winona State, the team has just as good a chance to make the post-season as any team in the league.
With a good mix of veteran leadership and young talent, the team puts a scare into teams they play, and should be at full strength with this week's anticipated return of Backes.
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