Volleyball team dealt blow
Lopez will likely miss entire season with injury
The offense stole the headlines, but an injury is stealing one of the Bison’s top hitters.
Head coach Erich Hinterstocker reported Tuesday that outside hitter Kelly Lopez may have to miss the rest of the volleyball season and take a medical redshirt because of a nagging hamstring injury she suffered in April.
“ It sucks. It’s really hard not being able to play, especially after getting a lot of playing time last year,” Lopez, a sophomore, said. “But I’m OK with it. I feel like I’m going to learn a lot more being able to watch and be there for my teammates.”
Last season Lopez was second on the team in kills and was figuring to be a big part of the Bison offense this year.
If she does sit out the season, Lopez will have three years of eligibility remaining.
The idea of playing three full seasons in the Mid-Continent Conference is one of the few positives that have come with the injury.
Despite Lopez’s offense, the Bison (2-5) had a very
successful weekend at the Bluejay Invitational at Creighton, Neb.
The team went 1-2, picking up a win over Jacksonville State and pushing the Iowa Hawkeyes to five games.
“ The Jacksonville win was a big win for us because we were down 2-1, tied it up (at 2), and in the fifth game we were up 14-12 and they came back and went up 15-14,” Hinterstocker said. “For us to battle back after losing three points in a row and to pull that victory out was a big match for our program.”
Junior middle hitter Christy Stuewe echoed her coach’s sentiments.
“ That shows how hard we’re working and we are coming up to the next level,” she said. She finished the match with 14 kills.
In that match, Chloe Quirk set career highs with 19 kills and 8 blocks.
Lindsay Rogers tied a career high with 13 blocks, and Sheila Parrish became the 17th member of the 1,000 kills club with 17 in the match.
The Iowa match saw plenty of history as well, with Parrish’s grabbing the headline again, setting a career high with 29 kills in the match.
Kristen Hille recorded 14 digs and 7 kills, both career highs. Not to be outdone by the hitters, libero Kari Fagnan set a career high with 33 digs and was only two shy of the NDSU five-game record set by Geri Getchell in 1999.
“ Kari had a tremendous defensive weekend,” Hinterstocker said. “I think she really figured out what our defensive system is all about. Her individual skill as a defensive player is getting better.”
With the help from the defensive side, Parrish garnered All-Tournament honors and was named Division I Independent Offensive Player of the Week. During the tournament she averaged 4.23 kills and 4.31 digs per game.
Freshman setter Mattie Johnson also picked up some hardware of her own, taking home the Division I Independent Newcomer of the Week award for the second consecutive week.
Johnson averaged 9.85 assists and 2.77 digs per game over the weekend.
The Bison will begin play this afternoon in the Washington Husky Classic in Seattle against Portland State and will play defending national champion Washington in the evening.