Jacks vs. UNO

[Jacks#1Fan]

The Jackrabbits took it to the University of Nebraska at Omaha tonight at Frost Arena before a lively crowd, which included a lot of students (hurrah!) They narrowly won the first 26-24, but handled the Mavericks better in sets 2 and 3, to win 3-0.

But what about that UND vs. NDSU volleyball match up in Grand Forks, where UND won it 3-1 before 2,394 fans (a new volleyball attendance record in North Dakota!) `

[jacks1]

Re: Jacks vs. UNO

A few observations:

1) The Jacks could contend for the Summit title this year...they are that good, and NDSU is not unbeatable.
2) Fiegen is a beast.
3) I swear 1/3 of all points in a volleyball match are due to service errors. That would drive me nuts if I were a coach.

[Hammersmith]

Re: Jacks vs. UNO

The Jackrabbits took it to the University of Nebraska at Omaha tonight at Frost Arena before a lively crowd, which included a lot of students (hurrah!) They narrowly won the first 26-24, but handled the Mavericks better in sets 2 and 3, to win 3-0.

But what about that UND vs. NDSU volleyball match up in Grand Forks, where UND won it 3-1 before 2,394 fans (a new volleyball attendance record in North Dakota!) `

I was one of the 2,394 last night. The match started poorly for us when our starting middle hitter badly rolled her ankle before the first point. For the most part, things went downhill from there. This match rivaled the IPFW loss in the Summit championship game two years back as the most mistake-prone Bison squad I've seen(I've seen about a dozen matches live over the last few years and about twice that on the web/TV). I don't know if it was the injury to Megan, the hostile crowd, the away game right after an away tournament, or if we're just young and undisciplined this year, but their heads were not in the game. There were occasional sparks of the Bison we've come to expect, but they were drowned out by the unforced errors and other sloppy play. The Bison will not go undefeated in conference play this year, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if you guys take at least one match from us. At this point, I'm expecting a 3-4 seed for us in the Summit tourney. The Iowa State matches this weekend are going to be brutal.

As for UND, their squad is good. Even if the Bison had their heads on straight, I don't know if they could take more than 6 of 10 on a neutral court. UND wasn't error-free, but they were close. UND has injected quite a bit of money into that program, and the effects are in full bloom. It's almost too bad that the rest of their schedule is nearly complete crap. Only UC Santa Barbara is a top-100 squad. The rest range from mediocre to bad beyond belief(just about all of the GWC falls into that last category).

One last note: After taking in a game up there, I am immensely glad that UND screwed up their Summit invite. I've heard about their fanbase from other programs(including ours), but I often put it down to rival talk. But when at least a third of the crowd starts jeering the opponent for no good reason, the entire student section starts chanting borderline sexually offensive slurs, and multiple individual fans go way beyond borderline, then one can only conclude the fans are classless. Beer + hockey fans + volleyball is also probably not a great mix. And let's not say anything about the group of 10-15 male students that stripped to speedos and ran along the sideline after each set victory while the PA played "I'm Too Sexy". Eyebleach should have been provided. (Proviso: Of course there are many great UND fans, but it sure felt like they were outnumbered last night.)



Actually, I just checked the TV schedule and the replay is on FCS-Central right now if you want to catch the last half. It will also be shown a bunch more times in the next couple weeks. I'm going to try and forget as much of it as I can.

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Jacks vs. UNO

One last note: After taking in a game up there, I am immensely glad that UND screwed up their Summit invite. I've heard about their fanbase from other programs(including ours), but I often put it down to rival talk. But when at least a third of the crowd starts jeering the opponent for no good reason, the entire student section starts chanting borderline sexually offensive slurs, and multiple individual fans go way beyond borderline, then one can only conclude the fans are classless. Beer + hockey fans + volleyball is also probably not a great mix. And let's not say anything about the group of 10-15 male students that stripped to speedos and ran along the sideline after each set victory while the PA played "I'm Too Sexy". Eyebleach should have been provided. (Proviso: Of course there are many great UND fans, but it sure felt like they were outnumbered last night.)

Been there (UND), done that, Hammersmith. There was no doubt that going to basketball games there was a bloody experience. Students, particularly, were obnoxious over the years. Reminded me of some experiences we had at another university in another state.

[jackmd]

Re: Jacks vs. UNO

I have absolutely not intention of ever attending a sporting event or, for that matter, setting foot in Grand Forks.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Jacks vs. UNO

i have absolutely not intention of ever attending a sporting event or, for that matter, setting foot in grand forks.

ditto!

[zooropa]

Re: Jacks vs. UNO

But when at least a third of the crowd starts jeering the opponent for no good reason, the entire student section starts chanting borderline sexually offensive slurs, and multiple individual fans go way beyond borderline, then one can only conclude the fans are classless. Beer + hockey fans + volleyball is also probably not a great mix. And let's not say anything about the group of 10-15 male students that stripped to speedos and ran along the sideline after each set victory while the PA played "I'm Too Sexy"

Reportedly some SDSU baseball players reduced an NDSU player to tears a couple years back, so it's not like some of that conduct doesn't go on everywhere (yes, even in Bisonland).

But guys in speedos? I'm not sure that's what Title IX policy makers had in mind.

[Hammersmith]

Re: Jacks vs. UNO

Reportedly some SDSU baseball players reduced an NDSU player to tears a couple years back, so it's not like some of that conduct doesn't go on everywhere (yes, even in Bisonland).

But guys in speedos? I'm not sure that's what Title IX policy makers had in mind.

Found out later it was members of the S&D team. Doesn't make it any better, but it does explain where the speedos came from.

[zooropa]

Re: Jacks vs. UNO

Found out later it was members of the S&D team. Doesn't make it any better, but it does explain where the speedos came from.

I'm just imagining Justin Sell & longtime SDSU S&D coach Erickson (31 years) being asked to approve that, and figuring that the facial expressions would've sufficed to kill the idea.

[Hammersmith]

Re: Jacks vs. UNO

I've got to throw one more post on this thread and retract/modify part of my earlier post. Not about UND's crowd; I'm sticking with that 100%. I got to see the Bison take on the #17 ranked Iowa State squad twice this weekend. Taking the three matches together, I saw three different Bison squads. While the team that faced UND was often inept and otherwise mistake-prone, the team that faced Iowa State was much better. The Bison were swept on Friday night, but two of the sets were close, and the Bison played more athletically and with fewer mistakes than Tuesday. But they took it to another level today. While ISU wasn't quite as good as last night, NDSU also stepped it up and played even better; taking ISU to five sets and only losing the last set 12-15. The only other team to take ISU to five sets this year was (7)Florida. If this Bison squad shows up for Summit play, going undefeated is not out of the realm of possibility and any other team will have a hard road to wrest the conference crown away from us.

It all has to boil down to our middle hitter that went down during the first play at UND. Her backups just weren't ready and looked totally lost out there on Tuesday. Two days of practice was a huge help, and Friday's baptism by fire must have pulled the team together even more. We'll be much better when Megan returns(don't know when), but we're much closer to our regular level now. I'm just really proud of how well they did today. I thought it was pretty funny when Dominos showed up with ISU's pizza at the beginning of the fifth set. They must have ordered it expecting three or maybe four sets, but I'm sure they never thought it would go to five with two of the sets going to extra points. I bet the pizza was a little cold by the time they got to eat it.

NDSU-ISU
Fri: 20-25, 25-14, 25-21
Sat: 28-26, 25-27, 25-18, 17-25, 12-15