MLC Knights Volleyball News and Notes

April 22 - 2009 Volleyball Schedule
 The 2009 MLC volleyball schedule can be found here.

April 16 - Rebecca Cox Accepts Call to Coach Volleyball
 For the release on Rebecca Cox accepting the call to be the new volleyball coach, click here.

Nov. 10 - Volleyball Receives Multiple Awards

Head Coach Lori Unke was named UMAC Coach of the Year Monday for helping the Knights to a nine game improvement over the 2007 season and a spot in the UMAC Tournament.

Also rewarded for that success were Carrie Fritzler and Emily Rasmussen, who were named first team All-UMAC. Both were fixtures on the defensive end ofr hte Knights, as Fritzler led the UMAC in blocks (111), while Rasmussen led the Knights in digs (407). Amanda Polzin was awarded Honorable Mention All-UMAC for her all-around play as a setter and outside hitter.

Nov. 4 - Knights Season Ends in Three Sets at Northwestern

The MLC volleyball team was unable to spring the upset over top-seeded Northwestern Tuesday in the first round of the UMAC Tournament, losing in three sets (25-15, 25-18, 25-13). The Knights struggled with their attacks all match, hitting -.009 for the match. Jaime Eternick led the team with nine kills on the night, while Emily Rasmussen tallied nine digs. The Knights finished the season 13-16, representing a nine-win improvement over the 2007 season.

Nov. 1 - MLC Closes Regular Season with 3-2 Loss

The MLC volleyball team lost to St. Scholastica in five sets (25-19, 25-15, 20-25, 24-26, 15-10) Saturday to finish the regular season 13-15 overall and 9-5 in UMAC play. The Knights lost the first two sets, but came back to force a fifth set in the loss. Amanda Zwick led the offense with 17 kills and also added 18 digs. Jaime Eternick (12) and Carrie Fritlzler (11) also reached double figures in kills. Amanda Polzin led the Knights with 29 assists, while Emily Rasmussen had 20 digs.

Oct. 31 - Knights Beat Northland in Four Sets

The MLC volleyball team improved to 13-14 on the season and 9-4 in UMAC play with a four set win at Northland (22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-21). The MLC defense led the way, totaling 15 team blocks on the night. Freshman Emily Boldt led the defense, totaling 6.5 blocks for the match, three of which were solo blocks. In the back row, Emily Rasmussen had a team high 23 digs. Overall, the Knights held Northland to a .099 attach percentage for the match. On the offensive end, Amanda Zwick lead MLC with nine kills, while Amanda Polzin finished with eight kills and 13 assists.

Oct. 29 - Knights Can't Complete Comeback

The MLC volleyball team once again forced a fifth set against Bethany after losing the first two sets, but this time was unable to finish the comeback, losing in five sets (25-17, 25-20, 23-25, 23-25, 15-10). The Knights were led by Amanda Polzin, who registered a team-high 16 kills and hit .333 for the match. MLC struggled with errors all night, hitting -.074 in the first set, and -.133 in the fifth and deciding set. The Knights also finished with 13 service errors on the night. With the loss, the Knights fell to 8-4 in league play and in fourth place in the UMAC.

Oct. 29 - Knights Sweep Player of the Week Awards

After a 2-0 week, three Knights were honored as UMAC Players of the Week at their specialties. Senior Amanda Polzin was named Setter of the Week after averaging 5.44 assists per game, to go along with her 2.11 kills and 1.22 digs per game. Carrie Fritzler was named Offensive Player of the Week after hitting a .436 in nine games, leading to an average of 2.33 kills per game. Finally, Emily Rasmussen was named Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season after averaging 4.44 digs per game while posting a serve reception percentage of .932.

Oct. 25 - MLC Beats Presentation in Four Sets

The MLC volleyball team finished off a weekend sweep on the road with a 3-1 win over Presentation Saturday (25-17, 25-21, 18-25, 25-16). The Knights had three players finish in double digits with kills in Jaime Eternick (13), Amanda Zwick (11) and Carrie Fritzler (10). Zwick and Emily Rasmussen led the Knights with 20 digs apiece, while Amanda Polzin had 25 assists and a game high five block assists. For the game, the Knights had 12 total blocks.

Oct. 18 - Knights Fall to Conference-Leader in Four

The Knights fell to Northwestern College Saturday afternoon in four games (25-14, 26-24, 24-26, 25-18). The Knights were led by Jaime Eternick's 14 kills for the match and registered an impressive 15 blocks. Kristin Steinbrenner and Carrie Fritzler each had two solo blocks for the game, while Emily Boldt had a game-high five block assists.

Oct. 17 - Knights Beat Crown for Eighth Win in Ten Games

The MLC women's volleyball team won swept three sets over Crown College Friday by the scores of 25-22, 25-18, and 25-10 to win their eighth game in their last ten tries. The Knights hit .238 for the game, led by Jaime Eternick and her 15 kills. Amanda Polzin added six kills, while also leading the team with 22 assists and ten digs. Defensively, the Knights forced Crown to hit -.030 for the game and had 13 blocks, led by Carrie Fritzler, who had six block assists and one solo block to go with her eight kills on the night.

Oct. 15 - MLC Rallies Again for 5 Set Win over Bethany

The Knights came back from two sets down for the second time in less than a week to defeat Bethany in five sets (18-25, 18-25, 27-25, 25-22, 15-11). The Knights improved their hitting in all five sets and finished with a near flawless fifth set with six kills and zero errors in 14 attacks. Jaime Eternick once again led the Knights with 16 kills, while Amanda Zwick and Amanda Polzin added 13 and 11 kills respectively. Carrie Fritzler and Emily Boldt led the defensive charge for the Knights, as Fritzler finished with one solo block and nine block assists, while Boldt had a game high ten block assists. For the game, the Knights finished with 20 blocks, compared to just three for Bethany.

Oct. 11 - MLC Falls to CSS in Four Games

The MLC volleyball team lost in four sets (25-19, 21-25, 25-14, 25-20) to St. Scholastica Saturday afternoon. The Knights were impressive early on the defensive end, blocking 11 attacks in the first two games and forcing 17 CSS attack errors in those games, but the Saints turned the offense on in the final two games, hitting .480 in game three and registering 29 kills in the final two games. Jaime Eternick led the Knights with 13 kills, while Carrie Fritzler had one solo block and six block assists. Amanda Zwick had nine kills and a team high 15 digs for the Knights.

Oct. 10 - Knights Rally for Five Set Win

The Knights lost a heartbreaking first set and fell behind two sets to none before rallying to win the final three sets over Northland College to win the match in five sets (23-25, 27-25, 25-22, 25-17, 15-8). The Knights' attack struggled to start the match but turned on late, with 20 kills in the final two sets. Jaime Eternick led the way with 12 kills, while Amanda Zwick added ten kills and 20 digs. Amanda Polzin finished with eight kills and a team high 24 assists, while Emily Rasmussen tied a game high with 21 digs.

Sept. 27 - Knights' Streak Reaches Four

The MLC Volleyball team beat Presentation Saturday afternoon in three games by the scores of 25-16, 25-14, and 25-12 to win its fourth match in a row. Jaime Eternick led a host of Knight attackers with ten kills and added nine digs. Amanda Zwick had five kills to go along with a game high 19 digs. Freshman Kara Kluck came in for the third game and notched six kills in seven attack attempts. The Knights improved to 6-10 overall and 2-0 in UMAC play with the win.

Sept. 26 - Knights Take UMAC Opener

The MLC Volleyball team won its conference opener Friday night in four games over UM-Morris by the scores of 25-18, 23-25, 25-21, and 25-18. The Knights were led by Jaime Eternick's ten kills on the attack, while Emily Rasmussen led the defensive charge with 22 digs. Carrie Fritler contributed all-around the court, recording seven kills, four service aces and five block assists.

Sept. 24 - Knights Sweep Season Series with North Central

MLC swept its season series over North Central Wednesday with a 3-0 win. The Knights won the games by the scores of 25-21, 25-16, and 25-20. MLC hit .306 on the night, led by Carrie Fritzler's seven kills. Libero Emily Rasmussen led the Knights with 11 digs, while Amanda Polzin served up 15 assists and five kills.

Sept. 16 - Rasmussen Named Defensive Player of the Week

Libero Emily Rasmussen was named UMAC Defensive Player of the Week for her play last week in helping MLC to a 2-2 record. Rasmussen averaged 5.27 digs per game, and also recorded a reception percentage of .919.

Sept. 5 - Knights Lose a Pair at Gustavus

The Knights lost a pair of contests Friday night at in the tournament at Gustavus. In game one, Gustavus defeated MLC in three games by the scores of 25-14, 26-24 and 25-20. In the second match, the Knights took the second game from Viterbo but lost in four games 25-14, 22-25, 25-15 and 25-20.

St. Olaf 3, MLC 0

Carleton 3, MLC 0

Viterbo 3, MLC 1

Viterbo 3, MLC 0

MLC 3, Univ. Dubuque 1

MLC 3, Carroll 2