The University of Minnesota Crookston Volleyball team dropped their home opening match against the #6 ranked team in the country the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs in straight sets in an NSIC match played at Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston.
Minnesota Crookston started the first set well, trading points back and forth with the Bulldogs before UMD took three-straight points gaining a 6-3 lead in the first set. The Golden Eagles stopped the run with a kill by Deaira Gresham (Soph., Maplewood), but Minnesota Duluth responded with four straight points expanding their lead to 10-4. Minnesota Crookston took one point back on a service error out of a UMC timeout, but after the Golden Eagles pulled to within 14-14 following kills by Kaitlin Sikkink (Jr., St. Charles) and Deaira Gresham, Minnesota Duluth rattled off seven-straight points in route to a 21-12 first set advantage. The Bulldogs would go on to take set one 25-14. “It was a little bit of a slow start,” said Minnesota Crookston head coach Sarah Rauen. “I think we came out and we followed our scouting report, but we didn’t quite have the attacking mindset like we did in set two and once we started to going after them instead of seeing what they were going to do we got them out of their system and played some good volleyball.”
The second set was much more competitive. Minnesota Crookston benefited from a quick start taking the first three points of the set including kills from Kaitlin Sikkink and Lauren Wallace (R-Fr., Bloomington). The Golden Eagles expanded their lead after a trio of Bulldogs’ attacking errors before a service error pulled Minnesota Duluth within 9-4. Following a bad UMD set, Minnesota Crookston took a 16-11 lead. The Bulldogs stormed back taking five-straight points tying the set at 16-16. A sixth-straight point following a Golden Eagles’ timeout gave Minnesota Crookston a 17-16 lead and Minnesota Crookston never recovered as the Bulldogs closed out the second set 25-21. “They’re a good team,” noted Rauen. “They made some adjustments and they had a couple players step up for them, but I really liked our fight. We were with them neck and neck the entire game and I’ll take it.”
The third side wrapped up quickly for Minnesota Duluth. With the set tied 3-3, the Bulldogs won five-straight points to take an 8-3 lead. Later, another three-point rally gave UMD an 11-4 lead. The Bulldogs never looked back in the final set closing out the sweep with a 25-8 third set victory. “They made the adjustment,” added Rauen, “they flipped the game on us and took away our options offensively and we got really one-dimensional.”
The loss drops UMC’s record to 2-8 overall and 0-2 in conference play. The Golden Eagles return to the court on Tuesday traveling to Bemidji State to take on the Beavers at 6 p.m. Minnesota Duluth improves to 8-2 overall and 2-0 in the NSIC.
Deaira Gresham digs a serve
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Minnesota-Duluth | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| UMC | 14 | 21 | 8 |
Hannah Stark attempts to block a UMD spike
For UMC
Kills – Deaira Gresham – 10, Kaitlin Sikkink – 5
Blocks – Callie Schapekahm – 3
Assists – Sydney Kruisselbrink – 19, Callie Schapekahm – 2
Digs – Ali Schueler – 11, Katie Lienemann – 6
Aces – none
