USD continues to roll, win five straight
Friday night was another exciting night at the DakotaDome, as the University of South Dakota women’s volleyball team beat Denver University, taking first place in the Summit League Conference.
Head Coach Matt Houk said Denver was a good match for the coyotes.
“The team is very focused, and they’re onto the next stage and preparing themselves for Western Illinois,” Houk said.
Junior Kendall Kritenbrink said the team goes into practice each day focused.
“We take each practice one day at a time,” Kritenbrink said.
The team will focus on blocking this week, as it has been inconsistent lately. The team started the season off with blocking being one of their strengths.
“A big strength of ours at the beginning of the season was our blocking, and we’re trying to get back to that, and make sure we’re putting up that good block,” Houk said.
The Coyotes offensive numbers have been good so far this season, but they will continue to focus on their pace, playing fast and scoring the ball.
Senior Tori Kroll said it was great beating Denver, but there are plenty of things to keep in mind.
“It’s very awesome, but everyone is competition this year, and we have to keep going 1-0 each day and competing,” Kroll said.
The team mentality is focused on 1-0 every game, which seems to be working well for the team so far. Houk says he needs to keep the team focused and keep the 1-0 mentality going.
“We understand that on Friday night, we are trying to go 1-0, Sunday night, we are trying to go 1-0. We are taking care of the details that we can. With it being the last weekend of the first half of conference, we want to make that important,” Houk said.
Kritenbrink also said the team serving has been tough lately, getting the other team out of its system.
The Coyotes will face Western Illinois on Friday night and the University of Nebraska Omaha on Sunday. Both games will be held at the DakotaDome at 7 p.m.
After this weekend’s matches, the Coyotes will be halfway done with conference play and onto the second half of the season. It is important that the team stays focused and keeps the 1-0 mentality going. Houk says the second half of the season is going to come down to which team is going to execute more efficiently.
“Each team will know us better, and we are going to know them better. We are going to expect even bigger battles because the second time through is always tough. Everyone understands everyone’s tendencies a little better. Everyone sets up better defensively that second half because they know what you’re going to do offensively,” Houk said.
Sticking together as a team and keeping the communication and energy up is key to bringing out wins the rest of the season.
