SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich.- The Lake Superior State women's volleyball team will start the 2021 fall season at the Keweenaw Volleyball Classic, hosted by Michigan Tech in Houghton, Mich. on Friday, Sept. 3 and Saturday, Sept. 4. The eight-team tournament will be comprised of four GLIAC teams (Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, Parkside) and four NSIC teams (Concordia St. Paul, Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State, St. Cloud State).
On Friday, the Lakers will take on No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul at 9:30 a.m. and No. 7 Minnesota Duluth at 5:00 p.m. On Saturday, the Lakers will take on the Huskies of No. 16 St. Cloud State at 9:30 a.m. and at 2:30 p.m., they will face the Minnesota State Mavericks. All games will take place in the SDC Gym, located on Michigan Tech's Houghton campus.
Following a disappointing spring 2021 season, the Lakers will look to start anew this fall.
Lake Superior State will look to Dave Schmidlin, in his fifth season as the Lakers head coach, to guide the Lakers to success. LSSU will have a tough schedule to open the season, with back-to-back tournaments, featuring some of the nation's top teams. This weekend the Lakers will face three ranked teams, with the fourth (Minn. State) receiving votes in the rankings.
Lake State will have a very experienced roster with 14 of the 20 members of the roster being either a junior or a senior. One key member of the team will be Halle Grulke, who will look to continue her success in the setter role after being named All-Conference Honorable Mention last season. Senior middle hitter Camdyn Odykirk, who was in the top three in kills as well as kills per set, will play a big role in the team's offense this season. Outside hitter Sarah Bailey, who is returning for a fifth season, led the Lakers in kills per set last season and will be looked upon as a leader on and off the court.
On the defensive side of the net, the Lakers will look for more success out of last season's liberos, junior Sydney Briney and sophomore Emily Hagelthorn. Both players were leaders in many defensive categories last season such as digs, digs per set as well as aces.
With four new faces this season (defensive specialist Jordyn Haller, libero Ally Lasley, middle blocked Maggie Morris, and outside hitter Ally Gruber, a transfer from North Dakota State College of Science), the Lakers will have a number of new players who will look to learn this year from their teammates and coach Schmidlin.
#2 Concordia-St. Paul, St. Paul, Minn.
The Golden Bears went 27-8 last season including a 16-4 conference record. Concordia-St. Paul also participated in their fifth consecutive NCAA Central Region Championship. The Golden Bears will be led by senior libero Tori Hansen, and sophomore outside hitter Jasmine Mulvihill. Concordia-St. Paul is ranked second in the nation and received nine first place votes in the AVCA coaches preseason poll.
#7 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, Duluth, Minn.
The Bulldogs finished 25-7 in the 2019 (20-21 season cancelled due to COVID-19) season as well as 16-4 in conference play, both of those records were good enough to give the Bulldogs a berth to the NCAA Division II tournament. The Bulldogs will look to the leadership of returners Kate Berg who is a fifth-year senior as well assSenior Summer Ballard.
#16 St. Cloud State Huskies, St. Cloud, Minn.
The Huskies have claimed recent success with a 25-7 overall record and a 15-5 conference record as well. The Huskies are coached by Chad Braegelmann who is in his sixth year on the Husky bench.
RV Minnesota State Mavericks, Mankato, Minn.
Senior Mara Quam will be leading the Mavericks this season. Quam is currently ranked third in Maverick history with 1,417 digs in her career. The Mavericks were 18-10 in 2019 and 11-9 in conference play.
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