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DSU earns 3-1 home victory over Mayville State
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By ARIY-EL BOYNTON, Sports Editor
| 10/08/2009 |
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Dakota State University Coach Amy Veenhof said "the real us showed up" on Wednesday at the DSU Fieldhouse. DSU defeated Mayville State in four sets (25-11, 25-20, 21-25, 25-14).
Veenhof pointed to serving as an example of what her players can achieve when they don't make mistakes.
"It started with serving tonight. We were really aggressive and really put the pressuere on them to respond in the match," she said. "We are very dangerous when we are rolling and don't give points away."
The Trojans served up 12 aces in the match, while Mayville State had only one. Trojan libero Amy Pheneger had six aces.
"Those aces were huge. Volleyball is all about momentum, and the aces gave us a boost, especially in the first set," said Veenhof.
In the first set, DSU went from trailing 5-6 to being ahead 20-6, all with Pheneger at the serving line. She had three aces in that set.
"Not only did Amy serve well, but we were ready on defense for their attack. The whole team was playing well in the match," said Veenhof.
DSU was almost perfect in serve reception with 98.1 percent for the match.
After blasting the Comets in the first set, DSU trailed 4-0 to start the second. DSU went on to lead 19-13 and win 25-20.
Much like the second set, Mayville State played the Trojans close and eventually stole the third set by four points.
"We would have liked to win in three, but they did a good job of making adjustments and taking advantage here and there," said Veenhof.
The Trojans won the fourth set and the match due to contributions from sophomore Katie Green and junior Erica Gall.
"Erica Gall did a fantastic job for us tonight. She got a lot of touches blocking at the net. She made us able to play some balls from the back row for points," said Veenhof. "Offensively, she hit shots that we told her were open. She did a good job of following the game plan.
``Katie Green performed well for us. On the service line and defensively, she got to a lot of balls for us," she added.
Veenhof said that both players did a good job of stepping up after not seeing a great amount of playing time in previous matches.
"Having players stepping is part of playing the real us," said Veenhof.
Rachael Jensen recorded a double-double for DSU with 15 kills and 17 digs. Stephanie Kruggel added 12 kills. Mollie Merriam had 40 set assists.
"Mollie did a really good job in the match," said Veenhof.
"It (tonight's match) was really big, and I think we needed to prove to ourselves that we are a better team than we showed to teams," said Veenhof.
With DSU playing every team in the conference, and with nine matches to go, the Trojans are now in sixth place.
"There's still a lot of volleyball left and we've got some stuff to work on, but I am looking forward to our next match," said Veenhof.
DSU's next match is Tuesday in Mitchell. Veenhof and the Trojans are looking forward to avenging their loss to the Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers on Sept. 29.
"They don't know what we have. We didn't really show them much, so we'll see what happens. It would be nice to be home, but we've got some fans that come with us and are loyal," said Veenhof.
With the victory, DSU raised its overall record to 6-12 and 2-5 in the DAC Conference. Mayville dropped to 8-13 overall and 1-6 in the DAC.
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