Game Notes

Last Week: U-Mary picked up its first conference win of the season as they finished the weekend with a split. U-Mary defeated Bemidji State on Friday night in five sets and fell to Minnesota Crookston on Saturday in four sets.  Several U-Mary players set career-highs in Friday's match against BSU. Alexis Jacobs tied her career-high with 19 kills and set a new career-high with 19 digs. Janell Finkbeiner set new career-highs with 52 assists and 18 digs. Allison Adams also had a career night finishing with a career-best 18 kills while hitting .342. The Marauders momentum was stalled against the Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles as a disappointing offensive performance led to a loss. One bright spot for U-Mary in the match was Paige Smith who finished with a team-high eight kills and two solo blocks.
 
Earlier this Week: U-Mary fell to Minot State University of Tuesday 0-3 at home. The game served as Cancer Awareness Night for the Marauders.
 
This Weekend: The Marauders be at "home" against Minnesota State University-Mankato on Friday at 7 p.m. as they take on the Mavericks at Century High School. U-Mary will be back on campus Saturday evening as they take on #1 Concordia University-St. Paul at 4 p.m.
 
The Records: MSU is 8-11 overall and 4-8 in conference play. The Mavericks have lost their last six contests including losses to Sioux Falls and Concordia-St. Paul on the road last weekend. CSP is 20-1 overall and 12-0 in conference play. The Golden Bears have won 18 straight contests including wins over Southwest Minnesota State and Minnesota State last weekend.
 
History: Since 2006, U-Mary has not defeated Minnesota State in six meeting including five conference matches. In each of the last five meetings the Mavericks were ranked in the top-20 in the country. In that same timeframe U-Mary is 0-11 against Concordia-St. Paul. All 11 times the teams have face the Golden Bears have been ranked in the top-10 nationally.
 
Game Coverage: There will be a live video stream of both matches available at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/umary.portal#. Live stats for the match against Concordia-St. Paul can be found at http://216.235.170.75/livestats/volleyball/xlive.htm
 
Social Media: You can also follow along with U-Mary volleyball in-game and general U-Mary updates on Twitter at @umarysports. Be sure to follow the Marauders Facebook page as well at "Marauder Athletics"
 
Next Week: The Marauders begin a four game road trip next week that marks their final four road matches of the season.  U-Mary will take on Winona State on Friday, Nov. 1 and wrap-up the weekend on Saturday against Upper Iowa.
Veteran Leadership: The Marauders have a wealth of experience returning six starters and a total of 10 letterwinners. Of those 10 letterwinners U-Mary boasts a total of seven juniors and seniors. The Marauders seniors include DS Alicia Ewen, OH Allison Opp and S Emily Turkowski.
 
Captains: The Marauders announced that senior Emily Turkowski, junior Morgan Dake and sophomore Alexis Jacobs have been selected as U-Mary's 2013 team captains.
 
Fresh Faces: U-Mary has five freshmen on their roster for the 2013 season. Rachel Astrup (MB, 6-0, Bozeman Mont./Bozeman HS), Alexandra Brown (Libero, 5-6, Minneapolis, Minn./Blaine HS), Janell Finkbeiner (S, 5-9, Ramsey, Minn./Elk River HS), Ashley Koppinger (OH, 5-7, Minot, N.D./Our Redeemer's HS) and Brianna Pernsteiner (MB, 6-1, Eagan Minn./Eagan HS) have bolstered the 2013 lineup.
 
Youth Movement: U-Mary's top hitter, setter and defensive specialist are all freshman. Averaging nearly three kills/set Alexis Jacobs paces the Marauders offense in her redshirt freshman season. Assisting Jacobs has been true freshman Janell Finkbeiner, who is averaging 6.07 assists/set. Anchoring the defense for U-Mary is true freshman Alex Brown who is averaging just less than four digs/set.
 
Jacobs: After a promising start to the 2012 season, Alexis Jacobs sustained a season-ending injury in the first weekend of the season. The redshirt freshman and Bismarck native is a vital part of U-Mary's attack this season. So far Jacobs is leading the team with 2.86 kills/set and is second with 2.52 digs/set.
 
Adams: Allison Adams came on strong as a freshman leading the team in hitting, but struggled to find her stroke as a sophomore. The 6-0 junior appears to be back to her freshman form leading the team hitting .197. Adams is second on the team averaging 1.81 kills/set
 
Dake Watch: With the announcement of the NSIC preseason coaches' poll, U-Mary junior outside hitter Morgan Dake was tabbed as the Marauders' player to watch. Dake started 19 of 23 games for U-Mary last season and led the team with a .204 hitting percentage. Dake finished fourth on the team with 117 kills and was third with 46 blocks. Six of those 46 blocks came in a career night against Winona State on Sept. 21. The junior from Bakersfield, Calif. last year was named to the NSIC All-Academic Team and was elected as U-Mary's Female Strength Athlete of the Year.
 
Block Party: The Marauders are fourth in the NSIC with 2.04 blocks/set. With 0.94 blocks/set, Paige Smith is near the top of the conference. Lauren Boldt (0.69) and Allison Adams (0.76) have also been key to the blocking attack.
 
Coaches Poll: Despite vast improvement last season and returning six starters, the Marauders entered 2013 picked to finish last. U-Mary finished ahead of both Minot State and Bemidji State for 13th place in the NSIC in 2012. With six-time defending champion Concordia-St. Paul picked to finish first for the 10th consecutive season, the NSIC looks to be among the top volleyball conferences in the country again this season.
 
Beat the Best to Be the Best: The Northern Sun is the premiere volleyball conference in the country. The NSIC is not only strong up top, but also boasts a depth of talented teams. With the release of the latest AVCA Coaches Poll the NSIC has an impressive five teams in the top 25 in the country, including the #4 ranked Minnesota Duluth and #1 ranked and six-time defending National Champions Concordia University-St. Paul.
 
SCOUTING REPORTS
 
MSU: Ranked nationally a year ago, Minnesota State University-Mankato (8-11, 4-8 NSIC), has struggled so far this season. The Mavericks rank near the middle of the pack in hitting percentage in conference play at .192, but have allowed opponents to hit the second highest percentage in the NSIC at .259. Much have the Mavericks defensive struggles stem from their league-worse 1.35 blocks/set. MSU has also struggled with ball control ranking 13th in the conference in digs at 12.98 per set. Leading an offense that ranks in the middle of the NSIC in most categories, Chandra Honebrink and Tiana Runck are both hitting above .270. Honebrink leads the Mavericks with 2.95 kills/set. Initiating the offense for MSU, Ellie Van De Steeg is seventh in the NSIC with 10.44 assists/set.
 
CSP: Six-time defending NCAA Champions, Concordia-St. Paul (20-1, 12-0 NSIC) is in top-form yet again this year. The Golden Bears are hitting a league-best .323 and allowing a league-low .134 opponents hitting percentage and outhitting opponents by an average of .191 per match. CSP is second in the NSIC in blocks at 2.25 per set and third in digs at 17.85. With three hitters above .300, Concordia-St. Paul is led by Kayle Koenecke's impressive .402 hitting percentage. Koenecke is fifth in the NSIC with 3.78 kills/set. Key to the Golden Bears offensive success has been setter Amanda Konetchy. Konetchy is leading the NSIC with 13.02 assists/set. Heather Schiller, who is third in the NSIC with 1.0 blocks/set, has keyed CSP's defensive efforts.

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