FAIRBANKS, ALA. – After being outplayed by St. Mary's University (1-1) the Minot State University volleyball team (2-1, 0-0) was able regroup four hours later to give Saint Joseph's College (2-1) its first loss of the season.
Walking away from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanook Classic with two wins was a good start for first year head coach
Ben Kaszeta. No team other in the classic will leaver with more than two wins.
In the first match of the day the Beavers struggled to do much of anything losing to St. Mary's in all three sets (23-25, 14-25, 13-25).
"I think we had a let down," Kaszeta said. "The excitement of playing in Alaska and the emotional and physical drain definitely caught up to us.
"Inconsistent serve receive led to a tough job for our freshman setter [
Kelsey Dewulf]. St. Mary did a great job of getting us out of system and serving us really tough."
Senior standout
Mallory Sall (Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) led the team in both kills (15) and digs (10).
Although freshman
Logan Desorcy (St. Andrews, Manitoba) played all five sets at libero in the Beavers first win and recorded a team high 19 digs, it was
Alexis Boutin (Jr., Parker, Colo.) who started the first and second sets as libero against St. Mary's. Later, in the third set, Desorcy replaced Boutin and Boutin moved to a different positon.
In the second match of the day Minot State took on Saint Joseph's, winning in four sets (22-25, 26-24, 25-17, 25-17).
"We bounced back really well against [Saint Joseph's]," Kaszeta said. "Our passing improved and definitely made the rest of the decisions easier. Tarah [Dabovich] and Shaunessy [Dauwalder] transitioning hard in the middle made everyone better. The energy they brought I thought really propelled us to that win.
"
Rachel Fagerburg's consistent play made a huge difference for us. She was smart with her shots and played great all weekend."
After losing the first set and trailing in the second it looked like the Beavers may be taking their second loss of the day, but a kill from Dabovich (Sr. Phoenix, Ariz.) seemed to change the momentum in her team's favor.
MSU trailed 17-13 in the second set and took a timeout. After the timeout and Dabovich's kill the Beavers went on a four-point run, surrendered one point, and went on another three-point run after that helping win the second set 26-24.
In this match Desorcy played the first set at libero while Boutin played the final three. Desorcy tallied 16 digs and Boutin racked up 13 herself helping push the Beavers past St. Jospeh's.
From there Minot State was able to run away with the match winning the final two sets by eight points and win the match
Sall and Dewulf were named to the Nanook Classic All-Tournament team. Sall finished the tournament with 46 kills and 34 digs while Dewulf helped the Beavers with 108 assists and four served aces.
Minot State will head to the Upper Iowa Tournament to play four teams on September 11 and 12. The first match against South Dakota Mines will begin 9 a.m. on September 11 followed by a match against Michigan Tech at 1:30 p.m.
About 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.
– GO BEAVERS –
