loyalundfan

Good point but if you do look into it the Tupacs haven’t retained a staff member year to year since they have been hired. (Last years DOVO was promoted to assistant coach, and he will be the first if he makes it to the fall). Sounds like there is a bunch of new faces which is great. A few freshmen that graduated early and a few transfers that are here already. Likely will have some more freshmen and transfers by fall season, but hopefully this is encouraging and raises level of play in the gym!

New DOVO just quit after less than a month.

Some are announced on instagram. College volleyball transfers or their personal page. can’t wait for some ball control in the gym! doesn’t matter how good of attackers you have if you can’t 3 pass! They’ve got to do something different going in to the final year of their contract…. making conference tournament is a MUST!

We’ll see I guess. She was the top setter recruit from mn in her class, but maybe she wasn’t progressing. Who knows unless you’re in the meetings…

Well Norris is done, and rumors are Timperly was let go, so a setter or two we’ll need!

Any transfer portal activity? It’d be nice to gobble up a middle or a setter.

This is the way of mid major programs. Get a good hire, they recruit well, have success and usually move on (normally to bigger programs, but not in our case….). Then new coaches, program slumps for a while until either they build it back up or another good coach is hired. Move their way to the top then move on again, repeat. look at the Dakota schools over the last 15-20 years. SDSU top of the summit 2005-2007, then NDSU 2009-2011, while UND and USD were transitioning. Then UND and USD get good coaches and the other two coaches leave. Then UND USD good 2013-2017 while the other two slump. Now it’s reversed again with SDSU on top. Tupacs will figure it out or not but at some point the pendulum swings back our way (hopefully sooner rather than later)

Plus you have to add wife’s salary: from open payroll: University of North Dakota (UND) records show Kristen Hahn Tupac held one job between 2023 and 2024. One of the most recent records in 2024 lists a job of Asst Coach - Volleyball and a pay of $45,260.

From the Herald: The contract for new UND volleyball coach Jesse Tupac, who the school named as head coach Dec. 21, is a four-year deal starting at a base salary of $93,635. The base salary grows annually, eventually reaching $102,500 in the fourth season. The Tupac contract has 16 different incentives, including $1,000 for conference regular season championship and $2,000 for conference tournament championship. A conference coach of the year honor would also net $2,000. The contract also has academic bonuses included, such as $2,000 for a semester cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or better, as well as $2,000 for a team single-year Academic Progress Rate of 985 or better.

As of right now we are one spot away from conference tournament (St. Thomas still ineligible with move to D1). We are one game back from Kansas City. With our earlier loss to UMKC, we would need to beat them Thursday in 3, or a win and then win one more game to make it in (probably at NDSU). UMKC would also probably have to lose out. Still possible, it helps we are at home! flashes of goodness, just not sustainable. Passing is an issue, slowing down outsides is also a struggle. Serving is hit and miss. Need to make some strides next year to keep fans interested and keep the good players in the program!

.04 was our hitting % i think this was due to our passing. Omaha always serves tough, so we were out of system a lot.

Look like injuries are kind of piling up. Two on the bench with crutches. Barber in wrap whole season. McCormick in knee brace and couldn’t walk without limping at end of match. That doesn’t help a tough season either. Doesn’t look like we have much off the bench when someone isn’t playing well. #12 is it, don’t know if anyone else has seen quality time at all this season.

From what I’ve seen, I think UND is better than they’ve been the past 4-5 years. However, I think the rest of the summit league is also much improved. All teams are competitive, and I don’t remember it being that way (at least since we’ve joined). Used to be a big difference in the top 3-4 and the bottom 3-4. SDSU completely turned it around in 1 season (coach has been there 5 years), St. Thomas flipping it with the same personnel (same coach forever), so anything is possible! Just have to trust things will keep moving in the right direction.

We are there. So close. Just have to find a way to put all the pieces together. Last night was the right side offense and defense. We struggle to slow down good outsides. Defenders are playing well, and serve and pass have improved quite a bit! Each night someone else steps up which is fun and must keep other teams guessing. Blocking is getting better throughout the season. Excited to see where things go as the conference continues to be competitive!

They were looking good vs. Omaha in first set then Cooper went out with bad ankle injury (stretcher, the whole nine yards) then lost in 3. Can’t seem to catch a break with injuries. You always feel for these athletes when injured! Norris looked decent in her spot, hopefully she can step in and they can regroup quick!

Anyone at the scrimmage yesterday? How do the newbies look?

Was at the scrimmage yesterday. Tough that NDSU couldn’t come, would’ve been a better judge of where they are at. Defense and passing looked pretty good. I like our setters! Middle might be the weak link unless they have a stud transfer portal or freshman coming in for the fall. Right now there is 2 on the roster, ones 17 years old and the other will be a junior, but blocking looked to be a struggle for both of them. Otherwise looked pretty similar to last fall. Seems to want to run a 6-2 and set quick to each pin and quick tempo in the middle. McCallister Gayle and Ashlynn Olson were absent yesterday but still on roster. Any info on those two?

How did the scrimmage look? I was hoping to make it but no dice.

One middle, Trinity Blackwell, just committed to Texas Women’s University. Haven’t heard of any others, but could happen in a few months when spring is over. I think they have a freshman on campus this spring though. Mariana Riviera. Not sure what position, though hopefully middle!

Mom is Brenda slight who played for the Bison

Missing tournament sucks, but we were more competitive with the top teams this year than the last 3-4 years. Girls look like they enjoy every point, and have great energy. We will miss our middles ( stockman A LOT), but seems like everyone else will be back, which also helps cohesion and trust. Still looking forward to the future!

Article from December 2021 before Tupac was hired. Barber committed and signed with previous staff. https://fightinghawks.com/news/2021/12/14/womens-volleyball-und-volleyball-adds-four-signees.aspx 2019 roster- Gayle was on team. Might have even been a Pryor recruit. https://fightinghawks.com/sports/womens-volleyball/roster/2019 And thought stockman transferred after 2021 season before Tupac was hired, but could be wrong on her. Timperly committed to Tiffin (her Instagram says committed September of 2021), but all other freshmen this year are Tupacs. De Jong, Lugo, and O’Dell are the only three non freshmen that I can see that didn’t have a commitment on their Instagram before Tupacs hiring.

Well, the loss tonight sealed it if it hadn’t already. Tonight was bad, another 0-3 loss with no line up changes. Gayle consistently hitting .000 or negative, so Olson must not have the coaches trust for some reason. Potentially because she’s not a good passer, but Gayle was aced twice tonight with no blocks… Only announced 1 on signing day yesterday, so that means everyone is coming back but the two middles, or they have transfers in mind. Again, it’s only year two, and 3 of the staff is new this year, so it is still a building year and a learning process, even though it is a disappointment. Almost everyone on the court are last staffs recruits (McCormick, Norris, Timperly, Gayle, Barber, Stockman, Hornyak) so once they have their recruits in, we’ll get to see what their style/type is! Next year has to have some improvement, in my opinion!

Lost to St. Thomas today in 4 sets.

This loss puts UND down two to SDSU for that final conference tournament spot. A lot can still happen, but this was a BIG one. Uninspired volleyball tonight. Does McCormick bring all the energy? Lots of mistakes. Norris and Gayle not good again, and Olson doesn’t see action. No timeouts taken in 4th set loss. Middles were the bright spot. Love watching Stockman play and O’dell had a good match!