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News
News
HOME SWEEP HOME: NELSON, BULLDOGS DOWN WARRIORS 3-0
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Alyssa Nelson loves playing volleyball against Winona State University - her stats tell exactly why.
The University of Minnesota Duluth junior pounded home 20 kills for a .545 it percentage to pace the No. 17 nationally-ranked Bulldogs' 3-0 (28-26, 25-18, 25-11) sweep over the Warriors in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference contest Saturday evening at Romano Gymnasium in Duluth.
For the record, Nelson has racked up an eye-popping 50 kills (6.25 kills per game) in two matches against WSU this fall - including a career-best 30 at Winona in late September - while she has also tallied a staggering .494 hit percentage against her conference foes.
Hence, the love for playing against the Warriors.
"I had a ton of confidence tonight," said Nelson after the match where she posted the first kill of the night. "After my performance down there, I knew I had the upper edge against them, and I just took over. I was just in the zone from point one."
And that couldn't have made anyone happier than UMD head coach Jim Boos.
"Alyssa's something special," said Boos about his all-conference middle blocker. "We feed her a lot of balls and when she's hitting the spots, she's tough to slow down."
Along with Nelson's heroics, the Bulldogs' offensive attack was aided by sophomore outside hitter Hannah Johnson, who posted 13 kills and a match-high .643 hit percentage. Sophomore middle blocker April Hansen also chipped in nine kills for a .500 mark and added a pair of team-leading block assists.
All-conference sophomore setter Eleena Iisakka directed the UMD (22-8 overall; 15-5 NSIC; 4th place) offense, as she handed out 50 set assists, while Bulldog senior captain and libero Rachel Jacobson ran the defensive department with a match-best 15 digs - giving her 1,209 on her stellar career - in the win over WSU (11-20; 9-11; 7th).
"We came out guns blazing," said Nelson about the match where her Bulldogs trailed just a total of six points throughout the evening. "We've been playing a little soft as of late, so it was really nice to see our aggressive come out tonight. That's how we play volleyball, aggressively. And it showed on the scoreboard."
Boos couldn't have agreed more.
"We play aggressive, hard volleyball," he said. "That's how we like to play and the girls did that tonight. The girls were fun to watch out there. It was nice to get a big ‘W' like this."
"This win was huge for us, we're all so excited around here," added Nelson. "We made a statement tonight and are playing with a lot of confidence right now."
Confidence is something the Bulldogs haven't had lately after dropping a number of road matches in recent weeks, but Saturday's victory - along with Friday's win over Upper Iowa University - completed a weekend sweep and finished UMD with an impressive 9-1 record on their home floor.
The sweep only aided to the Bulldogs' most recent sixth seed in the NCAA II Central Regional rankings, while it showed that again, UMD volleyball is playing their best when it matters most.
"We're back on the high-level of volleyball that we like to play right now," said Boos. "We had a tough stretch recently, but our ball control is getting better and we're finding the holes."
The scary thing is, the Bulldogs are still looking to get better.
"We haven't reached are peak quite yet," said the lone senior Jacobson, who finished her Romano Gymnasium career by recording the final point serve Saturday. "We're looking good, but we still have some things we can work on this week."
The Bulldogs will now wait to see where they will be seeded in the eight-team Central Regional bracket that will be selected by around 6 p.m. Sunday night. The always-exciting win-or-go-home tournament is set to kick off on Thursday afternoon from the Gangelhoff Center at Concordia University-St. Paul.
Their regional seeding marks their eighth consecutive trip to the NCAA II Tournament - every season under Boos - and within those eight trips, they've reached the regional five the past five years straight.
"We've been here before and know how to win this time of year," said Jacobson. "This is when we always play our best - tournament time. We're not scared of anyone right now."
- By: Tyler Korby -
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