Trojans'
first appearance in DAC Championship Game
By: DAN
HOLSWORTH, Madison Daily Leader Sports Editor
It took four
games, but Dakota State University's volleyball-playing Trojans fell to
Dickinson State, one of the NAIA Region Three's top teams, Saturday in
the DAC Championship at Dickinson, N.D.
DSU opened the
match with a 30-22 win, but from that point on, it was all Dickinson
State, winning 30-24, 30-19 and 30-23.
Dickinson will take its 25-4 record into the NAIA Region Three
Tournament this weekend at Rapid City.
Dickinson's Blue Hawks, the tourney's second seed, will play Briar Cliff
(28-7) Thursday in first-round action.
Even though her Trojans saw their season end at 16-14, DSU Coach Cynthia
Henning was proud of her ladies' performances.
"We played probably our best match of the season in terms of consistent
level of play Saturday," said Henning. "It was our first appearance in
the conference tournament finals; last year we lost in the semifinals to
Dickinson. We played extremely well, which is what you expect at this
time of the season."
Trojans Micah Tolzin, Stacy Dunklau and Sandy Smith carried the battle
at the net, producing, respectively, 16, 12 and nine kills. Smith,
Dunklau, Tolzin and Lanette Klarenbeek each had four block assists.
"Our hitters did very well, using a variety of shots," said Henning.
DSU needed that effort to counteract Dickinson's attackers, sparked by
Nancy Nyongesa, who led the Blue Hawks with 15 kills.
"We knew that Dickinson would use Nancy as much as possible to generate
their offense," said Henning. "We worked at aggressively serving the
ball and getting them out of their offensive rhythm."
Nyongesa was supported by Elena Malysheva, who had 11 kills, and Rose
Euppah and Brittany Jones each with 10.
In the middle and back row, the Trojans' defensive work was shouldered
by Ashley Brassfield, Cami Martin, Katie Bassett and Stephanie Nygaard,
who all had double-figures digs.
Brassfield led the way with 23
volley-savers, while Martin had 16, Bassett 13 and Nygaard 11.
"Our defensive effort was very, very strong," added Henning. "There
weren't very many balls that Dickinson was able to put down on us that
weren't at least touched by a defender."
DSU got all of its 39 assists from Bassett. Tolzin served up four aces
and Brassfield added three.
For Dickinson on defense, Rayann Figueroa had 15 digs, Nyongesa added 14
and Malysheva and KateLyn Stiefel each had 11.
"We played with a lot of emotion and intensity throughout the match,
which is something we had struggled with earlier in the season," said
Henning. "I was very pleased with that aspect of our performance."
Trojans 3, Minot 1
DSU earned its shot at the championship with a 3-1 (30-23, 22-30, 32-30,
30-28) win over Minot State Friday in semifinal action.
Dunklau had a huge 21-kill night, followed by Klarenbeek and Tolzin each
with 12. Smith added 11.
Klarenbeek shared in eight stops, while Dunklau had six double blocks
and Tolzin five.
Brassfield also had a big night, earning 36 digs. She was followed by
Martin with 22 digs, Bassett had 14, Laura Lanoue 13 and Nygaard 12.
Bassett had 47 of the Trojans' 50 assists.
©Madison Daily Leader 2005
