The Minot State University volleyball team came out with a high energy performance against No. 4 Southwest Minnesota State. Despite falling in three sets head coach Ben Kaszeta was happy with the way his team played. 

"I thought the energy was great today," Kaszeta said. "Leadership was awesome on the court. I thought our seniors, especially in the middle with Tarah [Dabovich] and Shaunessy [Dauwalder] were blocking awesome. They made our defense shine. They made it easier on Logan [Desorcy], they made it easier on Kelsey [Dewulf]. Made it easier on both Rachel [Fagerburg] and Mallory [Sall]."

The Beavers, playing with nothing to lose against one of the best teams in the nation, were loose and showed they were enjoying the match with encouragement and smiles on their faces throughout the three sets (19-25, 13-25, 12-25).

By playing well on defense Minot State was able to show they can hang with the best at times, coming off of stealing a set at No. 21 Augustana last week. With 39 digs, compared to the Mustangs 42, the Beavers also blocked seven attack attempts, compared to SMSU's five. 

"The plan was to make sure we don't leave somebody unblocked," Kaszeta said. "I thought we did a great job of moving things around and not letting anyone hit without a block infront of them. Blocks are something that are funny and only show up in the stats when you score on a block, but sometimes a great block puts someone into a hitting error or makes them hit the ball into our digging."

Leading the team's defensive strategy was senior Tarah Dabovich (MH, Phoenix, Ariz.) with four block assists and one solo block. Dabovich finished the game with two kills for a total of five points. 

"Tarah's got great instincts. She sees stuff before they happen," Kaszeta said. "Every once in a while she'll guess, and guess wrong, but the majority of the time she trusts her instincts pretty well. She's a confident young lady and she goes hard when she's on the court. I talk about it all the time, she's a great leader because she plays hard."

Leading in the other defensive measure was freshman Logan Desorcy (L, St. Andrews, Manitoba) with 10 digs. Fellow freshman Kelsey Dewulf (S, Huntley, Ill.) led the team with 20 assists while Mallory Sall (OH, Sr., Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) led with nine kills and 10.5 points. 

Minot State will play again tomorrow, October 31, at 6 p.m. against Sioux Falls in the MSU Dome. 

Minot State
Minot State University is a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and NCAA Division II offering 14 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletics programs. The NSIC is a premier NCAA DII, 16-member conference featuring teams in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa. The Beavers are the only public NCAA Division II institution in the state of North Dakota.