2019 Season

[Dustin]

To finish up the weekend, we got swept by Campbell, and then we swept South Carolina State.  Now, we finally come home with a 7-5 record for 3 non-conference games before starting league play on Sept. 27.  I'm excited to finally see this team play in person.

[UND Fan]

It is obvious that some of you follow the program closely.  Do you know about any of the following:

• Bryn Nieukirk made great progress last season but I don't think she has played at all this year.  Is she hurt?
• Similar question regarding Morgan Hunt.  She redshirted last year and I had understood that she improved dramatically but she has barely played as well.  
• Are the two freshmen from out west (McCallister and Hedqvist) both redshirting?  Both came in with good credentials but neither has played. 

[SiouxVolley]

UND went 3-1 at Carolina teams, but the three victories were sub 300 DI ratings.  Campbell U was near rated to UND, but UND was trounced by Campbell and UND lost the second set 25-5.

In the last OOC the weekend, UND hosts EWU,  Akron, and Lamar.  A victory against Akron is probably unlikely, but EWU and Lamar are only slightly rated less than UND.  This year could be a tough year if things don’t get straightened out soon.

[Dustin]

On 9/16/2019 at 10:12 AM, UND Fan said:

It is obvious that some of you follow the program closely.  Do you know about any of the following:

• Bryn Nieukirk made great progress last season but I don't think she has played at all this year.  Is she hurt?
• Similar question regarding Morgan Hunt.  She redshirted last year and I had understood that she improved dramatically but she has barely played as well.  
• Are the two freshmen from out west (McCallister and Hedqvist) both redshirting?  Both came in with good credentials but neither has played. 

I follow the program closely from a fan perspective, but have no inside connections to players or coaches.  The most "inside" information I get comes from this site.  So, I can't answer any of those questions.

[Dustin]

Just now, Dustin said:

I follow the program closely from a fan perspective, but have no inside connections to players or coaches.  The most "inside" information I get comes from this site.  So, I can't answer any of those questions.

Although, I have met former players Annika (Smed) Schwenzfeier and McKenzie Hart and visited with them.  That's as close as I've come.

[SiouxFan100]

Lose 1st set to eastern Washington 

tied in 2nd

we look a little underwhelming 

[UNDBIZ]

UND fights back and wins it in the 5th!

[Cratter]

Randomly stumbled upon the game on Fox Sports. Can't believe UND won.

They looked God awful.

[SiouxVolley]

The defense started out poor but came around.  The freshman libero should be good.  The attack game made way too many errors, including from players have experience.  

This team hasn’t found a rhythm yet and needs something.  No one was offensively dominating.

But the EWU win was almost expected based on ratings.  Akron should be a bigger test.  But a win against NDSU seems doubtful.

[MDtoGF]

VOLLEYBALL RECAP! .. check it out, liked Rutten and the balance of this team, starts seem to be key and Tiffin acknowledged as much as the game bore out, read it and let me know your thoughts. One thing about EWU, before tonight they were 2-0 in five set matches and have a superb Libero in Puaoo Sao that averages nearly 5-6 digs a set, she helped EWU take that first set as UND battled back. 

https://seamoresports.com/2019/09/20/defense-and-flashes-of-brilliance-mark-und-volleyball-five-set-win-over-eastern-washington/

[Dustin]

The girls finally came out and played some spirited volleyball in the 5th set.  Need to have more of that.

[nodak651]

What happened with Lamar?  Werent they supposed to come?

[Big Green]

9 minutes ago, nodak651 said:

What happened with Lamar?  Werent they supposed to come?

from UNDsports.com

Due to travel restrictions with Tropical Storm Imelda on Texas' gulf coast, Lamar University will be unable to attend the UND Classic this weekend. As a result the schedule for the tournament has been shortened

[Dustin]

On 9/16/2019 at 10:12 AM, UND Fan said:

It is obvious that some of you follow the program closely.  Do you know about any of the following:

• Bryn Nieukirk made great progress last season but I don't think she has played at all this year.  Is she hurt?
• Similar question regarding Morgan Hunt.  She redshirted last year and I had understood that she improved dramatically but she has barely played as well.  
• Are the two freshmen from out west (McCallister and Hedqvist) both redshirting?  Both came in with good credentials but neither has played. 

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/volleyball/4671060-UND-provides-new-coach-first-home-win-in-five-set-victory-over-Eastern-Washington?fbclid=IwAR0k8ULUVnHB6sqJsy9SYx5PUSW8qAhJzKeqS-ZuEU_H-_frFAxQzOwXleY

This article mentions that Nieukirk is close to recovering from an injury.

[UND1983]

58 minutes ago, nodak651 said:

What happened with Lamar?  Werent they supposed to come?

They got about 3 feet of rain dumped on them in a very short time.  Tough down there right now.

[MDtoGF]

Neukirk would be playing in the spot that Darian/Antic rotated in, if you can, come watch EWU take on Akron at 12:30, will give you a good sense of a different challenge that UND faces from Akron tonight, their main setter can also attack and this is a Zips team that height wise is a little taller than UND. 

[nodak651]

Are we really worried about Akron, with a victory even being unlikely?  They are 214 in Massey!  When is the last time UND even finished with a rating worse than that? This just seems crazy, as UND was 61 in 2017, 76 in 2016, 121 in 2015, 94 in 2014, 98 in 2013, and 134 in 2012.  We should be expecting to win this game!  Are expectations for this team really THAT low?  We were 208 last year, but we didn't rebuild, and we got worse?  In recent history, we have done great at reloading.  Losing Dooley really hurt...  Are there any underclassman that have legit all-conference potential?  It seems to me that a lot of the players who left would have been starters.  Is that wrong?

[UND1983]

EWU was picked last in the Big Sky and UND struggled greatly with them.  Not a good sign

[Dagger]

Makes we think I know why Pryor left rather quickly. He might of been lazy reloading team. 

[Dustin]

Unfortunately, Pryor left the cupboard with very little experience, and probably a little jaded. Setting last season was a joke. Glad she’s no longer on the team. My favorite player (Frasee) got her libero spot taken away, now she’s gone. I’m glad Bruggeman stayed on because without her, we’d really be in the hurtbag. Tiffen is going to have to put his own mark on the program, and hopefully it will be a good one. At least he has a car with North Dakota license plates   (I checked last night!)

[lawkota]

I think Pryor deserves a ton of credit for developing Griffin and Dooley into 2 of UND's best players ever.  And he struck gold in 2016 with the transfers in of Merseli, Tepavac and Vail.

Beyond that, not good.  Some numbers to back up what @Dustin stated:  Not including the current group of newcomers, Pryor had 4 recruiting classes, bringing in 26 freshman and 6 transfers; 18 of those 32 left the program early, 11 after their first year.  Not a single 2015 recruit completed her eligibility.  5 of 9 2016 recruits completed theirs but 4 of the 5 were transfers.  Ashley Brueggeman is the only freshman recruit (out of 11) in Pryor's first 2 classes that will finish at UND.   And look at the talent that has left - Courtney Place, Fraase, Taliyah Flores, Sid Mattson......

I know there is turnover in volleyball because of the ability to play right away elsewhere but goodness. 

[Dustin]

1 hour ago, lawkota said:

I think Pryor deserves a ton of credit for developing Griffin and Dooley into 2 of UND's best players ever.  And he struck gold in 2016 with the transfers in of Merseli, Tepavac and Vail.

I definitely don’t want to take away anything Mark Pryor did in 2016 and 2017. Those teams were fantastic. He quite possibly could have figured he’d never do better at UND and started looking for his next opportunity. 

[SiouxFan100]

Well it was fun while it lasted. We might be down for a while. Let’s hope we get back to being good enough to make the ncaa tournament.

until then, I will try to appreciate the efforts and the success we do have.

said I would try

[MDtoGF]

Some thoughts on tonight from press row combined with what to watch for from this team going forward. Really liked the blocking in set two and  Akron played 6 sets today, UND made them earn really one set of the six (set 2) other than that the Zips were playing great. Check out the recap! https://seamoresports.com/2019/09/20/zips-race-past-und-volleyball-to-clinch-und-classic-title-3-0/

[SiouxVolley]

UND continues to slide in Massey rankings, now at #267.   They have less than a 4% chance against Omaha and under 1% against USD.  Almost 100 ranking points lower than NDSU now.