Hello-
What a year so far! We finished up the regular season with 2 more wins yesterday to close out the regular season 20-11 overall and 11-3 in conference play. The 20 wins are the most since 2003 and are only the 5th time since 1970 that the Cougars have amassed 20 or more wins!
We swept Bethany Lutheran, never allowing more then 20 points in a set before disposing of Dakota Wesleyan in a hard fought 4-set win. All the scores were close and it was fun to see a couple of old Junior College teammates going at it- Jordan Olerud's Ridgewater teammate Carina Fesenmaier played for Dakota Wesleyan, and Megan Theis' old NDSCS teammate, Sarah Stahlke was also on the Dakota Wesleyan team, but did not play due to an injury.
So, now it's on to Northwestern and the first round of the UMAC tourney! The winners Wednesday will play Saturday and that winner gets an automatic bid to the NCAA DI National Championship Tournament!
Go Cougars- more to follow later this week!
Going to carve some pumpkins now with my boys--
Coach B
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Big, Big Win last night...
Hello-
Whew... Another one!! After being down 2 sets to 0... and down 23-19, the Cougars fought back to win the 3rd set, scoring 6 straight... We fought back after being down 4 points in the 4th to win and force game 5- where we proceeded to dig our selves an 8-1 hole. But no worries- we went on a 14-3 run to win it 15-11 and secure the #3 seed in the UMAC tourney! Off to the gym for some more volleyball today- more to follow-
Go Cougs!
Coach B
PS~ You can read about it here-
Whew... Another one!! After being down 2 sets to 0... and down 23-19, the Cougars fought back to win the 3rd set, scoring 6 straight... We fought back after being down 4 points in the 4th to win and force game 5- where we proceeded to dig our selves an 8-1 hole. But no worries- we went on a 14-3 run to win it 15-11 and secure the #3 seed in the UMAC tourney! Off to the gym for some more volleyball today- more to follow-
Go Cougs!
Coach B
PS~ You can read about it here-
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Cougs Win on the Road
Final road trip of the regular season!!!! We came out on top over Presentation College and we are on our way home. We are now 3 wins away from our first 20 win season since 2003! Totally doable!!
I hope to see the stands packed for our last home matches.....we are celebrating the seniors on Saturday, so bring your Kleenex!
See ya there,
Coach P
I hope to see the stands packed for our last home matches.....we are celebrating the seniors on Saturday, so bring your Kleenex!
See ya there,
Coach P
Sunday, October 24, 2010
WOW!
(I think the picture says it all! Last point of our win vs. Coe.)Hello-
What a weekend!! It started on Friday night as we hosted Northwestern and Coe in a tri-match... For three years we've played them tough, sometimes getting swept in close sets, sometimes taking a set, and even forcing them to 5 sets two years ago... but haven't beat them since 2004. We started out playing well and before we knew it we won the first two sets 25-22! Up 2-0 I was very interested to see how we'd play... and we responded well! After falling behind 2-1, we pulled ahead by 3 and never relinquished the lead, finishing them off in a nail-biter, 25-23 on a kill by Stephanie Schmiesing and sweeping them! (Pics here...)
While we enjoyed the win, Northwestern defeated Coe in 3... We weren't quite so lucky. We dropped the opening set, 23-25, then beat Coe handily in sets 2 and 3. In the 4th set, we were behind the whole way and after pulling close at 18-19, we lost 19-25. Then the 5th set... after falling behind, 1-5, we almost caught back up. But couldn't quite--- at 11-13, I was getting a little worried!! But two kills by senior Megan Theis and we were tied at 13! Natalie Thomas, serving her 2nd ball, hit the top of the net, where the ball hung there for a second... before falling on their side for an ace (love that new 'let' serve rule!)! Then, up 14-13, Thomas rocketed another serve, that their passer shanked under the net and the Cougars stormed the floor for a come from behind win!
Wow-- exhausting! Then, on Saturday, Crown came to town, after defeating Presentation the night before and winning their first UMAC match in 3+ years... and they played well again! We squeeked out a first set win, 25-23, the 2nd set was a little better, and the 3rd set we cruised to our sweep...
So, we are sitting at 16-11 overall, and 8-3 in UMAC play. One more win or one loss by Bethany Lutheran and we are guaranteed a spot in the UMAC tourney. IF the current seedings hold, we would be the 3 seed and travel to Northwestern to play next Wednesday, November 3.
More to follow later this week-- Go Cougars!
Coach B
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Finally.....A Home Stand!
Other then our trip to Aberdeen next Tuesday, we get to play out the rest of the season at home! We are pretty excited about that, no long bus trips, no eating out for every meal, don't have to get up when Coach B feels like waking us up.......
We get to celebrate being home by hosting our Dig Pink match along with Family Weekend this coming Saturday. Our match is against Crown College at 11am where we will honor the memory of loved ones we have lost to and survivors of breast cancer. We will also be selling items and having a silent auction to raise funds that will be donated to the SideOut Foundation for breast cancer research and education. For more information about the SideOut Foundation and/or to make a donation please click HERE. We have set a lofty goal of raising $1500 and we are going to need some help.
We will then celebrate our families with a pot luck dinner following the match. We are looking forward to having some homecooked food and hearing stories of the players childhood days.....if any parents want to bring some pictures of the current players in their "awkward" years we would love to have some conversation pieces!!
Our final regular season matches will be on October 30. That is the day that we will participate in one of our most emotional traditions, in my opinion, when we honor our Seniors. Megan Theis and Jordan Olerud will be nearing the end of their Cougar era and that is the day that we will shower them with gifts and try to find nice things to say about them. In case you don't know me that well, I sometimes have to disguise my sadness with sarcasm. I will definitely miss having these guys around, but I don't want to think about that right now.......
Ok, so that's what's going on in Cougarland for the next couple weeks.
Hope to see you in the stands as we make a push toward the UMAC Tournament and beyond!!
Coach P
We get to celebrate being home by hosting our Dig Pink match along with Family Weekend this coming Saturday. Our match is against Crown College at 11am where we will honor the memory of loved ones we have lost to and survivors of breast cancer. We will also be selling items and having a silent auction to raise funds that will be donated to the SideOut Foundation for breast cancer research and education. For more information about the SideOut Foundation and/or to make a donation please click HERE. We have set a lofty goal of raising $1500 and we are going to need some help.
We will then celebrate our families with a pot luck dinner following the match. We are looking forward to having some homecooked food and hearing stories of the players childhood days.....if any parents want to bring some pictures of the current players in their "awkward" years we would love to have some conversation pieces!!
Our final regular season matches will be on October 30. That is the day that we will participate in one of our most emotional traditions, in my opinion, when we honor our Seniors. Megan Theis and Jordan Olerud will be nearing the end of their Cougar era and that is the day that we will shower them with gifts and try to find nice things to say about them. In case you don't know me that well, I sometimes have to disguise my sadness with sarcasm. I will definitely miss having these guys around, but I don't want to think about that right now.......
Ok, so that's what's going on in Cougarland for the next couple weeks.
Hope to see you in the stands as we make a push toward the UMAC Tournament and beyond!!
Coach P
Saturday, October 16, 2010
1-1 Road Trip...
Hello-
Wow, the tale of two teams today! We started out well, winning the first set going away... then were up in the 2nd set before losing a decent lead in set 2. Set 3 was a battle back and forth before the Cougars gave way to the LumberJills and lost the set, 24-26. Set 4 didn't start out any better as we were down 0-5 before we called a timeout... I had lots of thoughts running through my mind at that point... and most of them weren't really positive. We talked about taking it one point at a time, really celebrating when we won a point, the bench started getting really into it and before we knew it we were tied up (I think at 12-12)! Then we took over from there and beat them pretty bad the rest of the way, winning the 4th set pretty easily. After giving up the first point in the 5th set, we went on a 9 or 10 point run before winning the set and match 15-6.
I really think the women on the bench made the difference in the match, providing energy, feedback and positive vibes to the players on the court. It was very cool to be a part of!
Now we are almost to Hinckley on the way back and a couple of days off before we close out our season with 6 of our last 7 matches at home!
Have a great weekend and more to follow next week!
Sincerely,
Coach B
Wow, the tale of two teams today! We started out well, winning the first set going away... then were up in the 2nd set before losing a decent lead in set 2. Set 3 was a battle back and forth before the Cougars gave way to the LumberJills and lost the set, 24-26. Set 4 didn't start out any better as we were down 0-5 before we called a timeout... I had lots of thoughts running through my mind at that point... and most of them weren't really positive. We talked about taking it one point at a time, really celebrating when we won a point, the bench started getting really into it and before we knew it we were tied up (I think at 12-12)! Then we took over from there and beat them pretty bad the rest of the way, winning the 4th set pretty easily. After giving up the first point in the 5th set, we went on a 9 or 10 point run before winning the set and match 15-6.
I really think the women on the bench made the difference in the match, providing energy, feedback and positive vibes to the players on the court. It was very cool to be a part of!
Now we are almost to Hinckley on the way back and a couple of days off before we close out our season with 6 of our last 7 matches at home!
Have a great weekend and more to follow next week!
Sincerely,
Coach B
To Coach Pennie...
Hello all-
Good morning!! I love waking up early in the morning (with 4 kids you don't have much of an option). And I will tell you this... Coach Pennie... is a peach in the morning!!
Have a great day!
Coach B
PS~ I thought it might be a good idea to feed the team breakfast (which closes in 15 minutes) before we go play... Coach Pennie obviously doesn't believe in fuel for the women on the team!
Good morning!! I love waking up early in the morning (with 4 kids you don't have much of an option). And I will tell you this... Coach Pennie... is a peach in the morning!!
Have a great day!
Coach B
PS~ I thought it might be a good idea to feed the team breakfast (which closes in 15 minutes) before we go play... Coach Pennie obviously doesn't believe in fuel for the women on the team!
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