Opening weekend rundown: Carthage, St. Thomas, Chicago get gold stars

In this space I’ll track the biggest results of opening weekend, as I see the results. Please leave a comment about what you saw.

9/1 • St. Scholastica 3, No. 16 St. Olaf 0. I had a more detailed entry on this match yesterday. • RV UW Oshkosh 3, Northwestern 2. UWO out-dug NWC 85-66. Freshman outside Morgan Nick led UWO and senior outside Chelsea Koth led NWC with 17 kills apiece. • UW-River Falls 3, RV UW Oshkosh 1. Two potential NCAA bubble teams get a head-to-head nonconference result on the books early. Both teams hit better than .200, but four UWRF hitters reach double-figure kills to one for UWO. • Northwestern 3, Bethel 0. NWC came from behind to win three tight sets.

9/2 • Elmhurst 3, Dominican 0. The Bluejays romped behind .447 hitting. Sophomore middles Kaitlyn Wilks and Megan Reynolds led the way, combining for 19 kills and one error on 29 attempts. • Northwestern 3, UW-River Falls 1. Not much was decided among some of the top teams in St. Paul. River Falls beat UW Oshkosh. Oshkosh beat Northwestern. Senior right-side Greta King paced NWC in this one with 14 kills. • No. 10 St. Thomas 3, Loras 0. The new-look Toms had a termination festival. UST had 47 kills. The Duhawks scored 50 points. • Wisconsin Lutheran 3, RV UW Oshkosh 2. WLC gets a feather in its cap. WLC out-dug UWO 95-64 and had 59 more attempts. WLC doesn’t play WIAC teams often, but the Warriors have now won their last two against the conference. WLC beat UW-La Crosse in five late last season. • Bethel 3, RV UW Oshkosh 1. An inexperienced UWO team suffers its third loss of the weekend, this time against a veteran BU squad. If the box score is correct, BU had 113 more attacks and 43 more digs than UWO. Shocking numbers, if correct. • St. Norbert 3, Lakeland 0. Rivalry match gets an expected result. “We just didn’t look like we wanted to be out there,” Lakeland coach Jon Staabs said. The Green Knights rebounded after a four-set loss earlier in the day to Alma, a quality team in the MIAA shadow of Calvin and Hope. • No. 3 Washington 3, Harris-Stowe 0. The result isn’t surprising, but what’s noteworthy is that the Bears had 25 aces and hit .453. Senior middle Lauren Budde led WU with 11 aces, five kills, six digs and four blocks. • No. 11 Carthage 3, No. 20 UW-Eau Claire 1. The Lady Reds won rather easily on UWEC’s floor. CC senior outside Michelle Madeja had a match-high 12 kills. Senior outside Lauren Dembkowski added 11 kills and 14 digs for the Lady Reds. CC swept Saint Benedict in close sets earlier in the day. • No. 14 Concordia-Moorhead 3, Saint Benedict 1. Good nonconference win for the Cobbers against a top-half MIAC team. CCM senior middle Katie Vohnoutka (34 attempts) and CSB senior outside Chelsie Sobieck had 19 kills apiece. CCM junior outside Danelle Loomis added 15 kills and 16 digs. CSB sophomore libero Chelsea Rachel had 30 digs. • Dominican 3, Beloit 0. Matchup of 2010 conference champions. The NAC’s Stars kept the MWC’s Bucs in the teens in all three sets. • No. 10 St. Thomas 3, RV Nebraska Wesleyan 1. Watched this match of rebuilt teams online. UST looked pretty darn good on first glance. The Toms are tall across the net and and their “new” setter, senior Ashley Maher, was fantastic. NWU rallied fairly well, but UST’s new group has me on board already. NWU swept Luther earlier in the day. • RV Trinity (TX) 3, No. 9 UW-Platteville 1. More than 2,000 packed the gym and a tribute for TU senior right-side Catharine Found’s family was held prior to first serve. Found’s sister and mother died within the last month. Found had 12 kills on .500 hitting in the win. Four UWP players ended with double-figure kills and senior setter Ali Sikic had 50 assists, but the Pioneers committed 29 attack errors and were aced six times. UWP could take some time adjusting to not having longtime assistant coach Loren Finn and junior-to-be outside Melanie Bailiff. Neither are with the team this season. • No. 25 Chicago 3, Elmhurst 1. EC lost three sets by a combined eight points and won the other set by 10. Two teams we’ll be hearing about all season. Why? Because they’re two of my currently underrated picks to do some damage in the postseason. • Central 3, Greenville 1. Good win for the Dutch over the SLIAC defending champion and 2011 favorite to repeat. Senior middle Kiley Meyers led Central with 11 kills without an error.

9/3 • Saint Benedict 3, No. 20 UW-Eau Claire 1. Watched it online. CSB showed outstanding ball control and digging. The Blazers’ libero stood out with a very, very good match. UWEC had a good block at times, but passing was the Blugolds’ downfall. Some long points in this one. • Saint Mary’s 3, Loras 0. Two sets went extras, but SMU averaged 17 kills per set and improved to 3-0. Freshman outside Kara Grant led SMU with 17 kills. Cardinal sophomore setter Lexi Assimos had 44 assists. • No. 24 UW-Whitewater 3, Alma 1. UWW averaged 15.5 kills per set but got all it could handle, outscoring Alma by four points on the day and hitting .163. Five Warhawks reached double digits in kills, and sophomore Heidi Buss dished out 53 assists. • St. Scholastica 3, RV Nebraska Wesleyan 0. The Saints “upset” another team. CSS junior outside Anna Zyvoloski had 22 kills and 15 digs. • No. 11 Carthage 3, No. 14 Concordia-Moorhead 1. Both teams hit well. The Lady Reds had four players with 10+ kills, and senior setter Drewann Pancratz had 48 assists. Carthage senior outsides Michelle Madeja and Lauren Dembkowski registered double-doubles. Cobber senior outsides Jenna Green and Katie Vohnoutka countered with double-doubles, and senior setter Amy Sykora had 49 assists. • RV Nebraska Wesleyan 3, Loras 0. NWU opened up a can (10, 17, 20) and salvaged a 2-2 weekend. The P-Wolves’ losses to St. Thomas and St. Scholastica will look fine at selection time. NWU had four players with eight kills and hit .298 as a team. • No. 14 Concordia-Moorhead 3, No. 20 UW-Eau Claire 2. Watched it online. Not the prettiest, but it was fun to watch. A good sign for the Cobbers that they can beat a ranked team without their best. Both teams better fix their passing woes, but you can see the potential in these teams. A little sluggish on both sides of the net though. CCM senior outside Jenna Green had a match-high 23 kills and added 16 digs. CCM outhit UWEC .350 to .176. • No. 24 UW-Whitewater 3, St. Norbert 2. A collective exhale from the Warhawk faithful. The fifth set ended 16-14. SNC hit just .067 and still almost beat a top 25 team. UWW hit .098. UWW committed 39 attack errors to SNC’s 31. No player with 20 or more swings hit better than .174. The WIAC is going to be interesting again this season. • No. 10 St. Thomas 3, St. Scholastica 1. OK, I get it. I foolishly thought UST would take some lumps with its revamped roster. Silly me. I probably would have bet against U.S. Steel, too. Tommie freshman middle Kelly Foley went off (24-1-32), and Ashley Maher had 47 assists. UST hit .355. No Saint had more than nine kills. • Luther 3, Saint Mary’s 2. SMU is handed its first loss. Luther gets out of town with a 2-2 weekend. LC spread it around with four players getting between 27 and 44 attempts. Freshman outside Kara Grant took 35 percent of SMU’s swings (52 of 150). • No. 17 Southwestern 3, No. 9 UW-Platteville 1. The Pioneers are 0-3 (now 1-3). UWP lost three matches in the 2010 regular season. All four sets were decided by two points. UWP junior outside Samantha Rampart (18-0-29) led the Pioneer attack. Five SU players had 10+ kills.

Around the country … • No. 5 Wittenberg 3, No. 2 Emory 1 (9/2). Got a chance to follow this one online. EU, my No. 1 team, had troubles with serve receive and setting, and the offense was sluggish on Witt’s home floor. The Witt defense – net and back – looked in postseason form. Part of that was due to Emory’s lackluster offense, but Witt definitely looked good – much better than I thought it would early in the season after losing All-America setter Amy Cox. • Pacific Lutheran 3, No. 18 Whitworth 0 (9/2). A traditional West Region power downed the new kids on the block in a nonconference matchup of NWC contenders. Whitworth was picked to repeat in the NWC while PLU was picked third. • No. 15 Hope 3, RV Case 0 (9/2). Fairly expected result, but Case was in the 20s all three sets. • No. 5 Wittenberg 3, No. 6 Juniata 1 (9/3). Listened to it online. Witt added another signature win after beating No. 2 Emory yesterday. Four competitive, “spurty” sets and neither team hit very well, but Witt was clutch at winning time. Senior outside Kimmie Dyer led Witt with 15 kills and 21 digs. JC junior outside Kelsey Fuller was injured late in the match. • No. 4 Christopher Newport 3, No. 8 Cal Lutheran 0 (9/3). CNU had 10 blocks, and the Regals hit negative. • No. 15 Hope 3, Geneva 2 (9/3). Five sets? I’m intrigued. • No. 22 Puget Sound 3, No. 18 Whitworth 1 (9/3). WU lost to the two good teams it faced this weekend. UPS remains undefeated as it faces unbeaten Pacific Lutheran later tonight. PLU beat WU yesterday. UPDATE: UPS beat PLU, 3-1. • No. 2 Emory 3, No. 6 Juniata 0 (9/3). I thought JC would be vulnerable. No Larry Bock. No Steph Strauss (playing, that is). No Drew Barnhart. No Kelsey Fuller due to injury. Oh, and Emory is a tough opponent, as was Wittenberg. JC will be fine, but it’s not yet among the top few teams. And that’s a change.

-Ricky Nelson