Dustin

One of the best efforts of the year I would say. At least thru two sets. Lexi and Anna look back to their old selves. Julia K with some good swings too.

Northern Colorado went to Portland State last night and swept them. The Bears are really coming on strong, and have already swept UND. Saturday's game will be a big one for UND if they are to remain relevent this season. ISU took a commanding lead in the conference race with a 3-2 win over NAU. Bengals are now 10-1, and virtually a lock to host the tournament.

UND goes on a terror to come back, winning in extra points.

Pretty good set coming out of the break 25-18 UND. Win one more set and the it's back home for 3 in a row.

Tied @ 1-1 at the intermission. Good first set for the girls, but got absolutely smoked in set 2.

ISU may have our number for another year, too, as Tressa Lyman is only a Junior. Janae Vander Ploeg from NAU is also a junior. Countering those two has been / will be Pryor's biggest challenge.

I haven't figured out Pryor for game time coaching yet. He's definitely having trouble with the Robinson/Pioske/Fontes situation that Hardee never had. None of them seem to be the answer, and there's no one on the bench for that position. I hope he's recruiting that position hard.

I'm guessing Pryor figured we could win the game without her, and he needs to get Griffin some playing. I still don't know why he played her in the third set on Thursday though.

I'm not sure what Pryor was up to last night. He pretty much conceded the game after the intermission. Maybe he trying to give his starters a hard lesson in "if you're not going to produce, you're not going to play." He seemed content to watch his team lose.

I have season tickets, and I think the crowd is a little more docile this year. It might because the crowd is missing the big swings from last year. No Munkeby or Parlich, and Robinson and Pioske aren't providing much excitement this year. Dooley is good, but she doesn't swing with authority yet, hopefully that is coming. I'm not writing this season off, but I am excited for Fraase to be here next year.

It appears the game is over. UNC sweep.

Watching UNC game. Video is good, but no audio or scoreboard. We look to be playing pretty badly, but I have no idea what the score is!

Important win since that is the only game we have against Portland St. for the regular season. After the third set I thought "we shouldn't have lost", but after the fourth set I thought "we shouldn't have won!" I guess it all worked out. Nice way to close out the match with some domination.

When it comes the tournament, the divisions don't have anything to do with it. The top eight teams make the tournament, which is hosted by the school with the best overall conference record.

not sure why that would be the case.

you may want to be careful what you wish for - perhaps each team's defense is really strong and created those errors.

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/volleyball-women/d1 First edition of the season. UND at 112. USD amazingly at 56. With no non-conference games left, I'm guessing our potential to go higher RPI is slim. Anyway, all that really matters now is conference play, and there is a big match-up on Saturday at Idaho St. Early in the season, yes, but since we only play them once, a win for a potential tie-breaker could go a long way. Portland St. gave us some breathing room in the North division by beating Idaho last night, but those South division match-ups are going to be key.

Good deal not to drop a game to the Montana schools. We should be able to beat them at home no problem. Big match next weekend at Idaho st.

Yeah, it is definitely on their end. Anyway, looks like we're tied at 1-1.

Anybody else having terrible time watching the Big Sky TV stream?

Not heard this suggestion before. Not bad. I like that is starts with "S" like Sioux. Dislike that it is so many syllables.

There was some action last night in the Big Sky. Most notably, Idaho swept No. Arizona in Moscow. Idaho St. and So. Utah also won.

My top choices (no particular order): Warriors, Frackers, Soo Liners, Brave, Aeros. Someone mentioned earlier (paraphrasing) "why does it have to a tie to state/region"? I think it does. Many times, the flagship university has a nichname associated with a state nickname, like badgers, Hoosiers, buckeyes. If you here the word "Hoosier", you automatically think either the state of Indiana or Indiana university. That's what I want.

Both Pioske and Robinson had ice on their shoulder after the South Dakota game. I really think it's affecting Robinson's power. She wasn't doing that well last night either, until her back row play started to save a few balls, and that translated into her being better offensely. On a side note, my wife and I sat lower down than we usually do because attendance was a little light, and happened to sit right next to Nikki Husfeldt's parents. They were great to visit with, and pointed some of the other girls' parents, too. Her mom said that Nikki visited other schools, but once she visited UND she fell in love with it, and her parents love it too. They had no prior connection to UND before Nikki came. I love stories like that!

29-27. UND trailed 24-21, before rallying, only to come up short.