Bulldogs Have Playoff Hopes Dashed By Defending National Champs

Nov 30, 2012

Northland Sports Online

The University of Minnesota Duluth will have to wait at least another year to make a return appearance to the Elite Eight. Concordia University-St. Paul saw to that Friday evening with a powerful all-around display en route to a 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-21) win over the Bulldogs in a NCAA II Central Region semifinal match at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minn.

UMD stayed competitive throughout the entire opening frame despite allowing the top-seeded Golden Bears to hit at a .414 clip. Trailing by five in the latter portion of the set, back-to-back solo blocks by junior All-American outside hitter Kate Lange pulled UMD within striking distance at 23-20. Rookie setter Ashley Hinsch picked up a service ace on the ensuing point, but Concordia-St. Paul took a timeout and then responded with consecutive kills to take a 1-0 lead.

The Golden Bears kept the momentum on their side at the beginning of the second set, leaping out to a 5-0 advantage — largely due to three Bulldog errors. Concordia-St. Paul prevented UMD from sustaining any kind of rally and held a lead of four or greater until grabbing a commanding 2-0 lead on a set-point kill by Kayla Koenecke. The Bulldogs could not get anything going on the attack in the middle game, hitting a collective .108 (their lowest output of any individual set on the evening) with 12 kills against eight errors.

Trying desperately to stay alive, UMD put together a better defensive effort in the final game. The Bulldogs held the Golden Bears to a combined attack percentage of .171, but that was not enough to prevent the five-time defending national champions from notching their 32nd consecutive NCAA Tournament victory. UMD again pulled within 23-20, but that is as close as it would get before a Bulldog service error on match point sealed the deal.

Concordia-St. Paul (29-4) went out of its way to shut down Lange, who matched a season-low with a team-leading 10 kills. Despite the defensive attention thrown her way, the Hibbing, Minn., native extended her personal streak to 67 straight matches with 10 or more kills. Hinsch passed out 32 assists in guiding UMD to a .188 hitting percentage. Sophomore libero Julie Rainey closed out the match with seven digs, several of which were of the highlight reel variety.

The loss ends UMD’s season at 29-5, and marks the final collegiate appearance for senior captains Samantha Hertaus and Kalli Lochner. Hertaus, a defensive specialist from New Prague, Minn., finished with a team-high nine digs. The Bulldogs’ starting middle blocker each of the past two seasons, Lochner posted seven kills and added two block assists in helping her team match its highest win total since 2007.

Head coach Jim Boos now sports a career record of 298-57, leaving him just two victories shy of reaching 300-win plateau. The Bulldogs have made 16 all-time appearances in the NCAA II Playoffs, qualifying for the last 11 national tournaments dating back to the 2002 season.

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