THIS WEEK'S MATCHES: UW-Stout (4-1, 0-0 WIAC) had a good start to the 2021 season, winning four of the five matches, and will take on St. Mary's University (1-3, 0-0 MIAC) Wednsday, Sept. 8. The Blue Devils will travel to the UW-Oshkosh Polito's Tournament, Sept. 10-11. Stout is scheduled to play Lake Forest College and Wisconsin Lutheran College Friday and Lakeland University and St. Norbert College Saturday
ON-LINE: All home Blue Devil matches are available online.
PARKING: Parking on the UW-Stout campus is restricted during the business week. For games in Johnson Fieldhouse during the week, please plan to park in Lot 29. Do not park in Lot 4, which is a reserved lot for students that live in the residence halls.
2021 UW-STOUT BLUE DEVILS: Sidney Hoverman tops the WIAC in kills at this point of the season, averaging 3.82 kills over 17 sets played. Hoverman has had at least nine kills in each of the five matches and twice recorded 13 kills and set a collegiate-best with 21 kills against Grinnell College. Nelson is fifth in the league in hitting percentage (.313) and fourth in the league in assists (7.88). Terrah Moshier is 10th in the conference in digs (3.35).
BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT: Stout dropped their opening match of the Grinnell College/Central College Invitational last weekend in Iowa, falling 3-0 to 25th ranked Elmhurst College. Stout bounded back with a 3-0 win over Grinnell, then captured a 3-0 win over the University of Dubuque and a 3-1 win over Central College. Jessica Barr and Lexie Nelson were selected to the all-tournament team.
SAINT MARY'S UNIVERSITY: The Cardinals were able to play a limited schedule last spring, going 5-4 in matches against Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) opponents. This season, the Cardinals won their opening match of the season, a 3-0 win at Luther College. St. Mary's fell 3-1 to Edgewood College, lost 3-1 to the Milwaukee School of Engineering, before dropping a 3-0 decision at Wartburg College. Ciarra McNally has led the Cardinals offensively to start off the season, averaging a healthy 4.86 kills per contest. In the four matches, McNally has tallied 16, 20, 20 and 12 kills. Libero DeJaye Baab was an all-MIAC first team pick in 2019 and closed out her sophomore campaign leading the team with a single-season career-high 549 digs, ranking No. 3 in the MIAC — and putting her fifth in single-season program history. Baab collected 10 or more digs in all 27 matches in 2019 and recorded a career-high 42 digs against Hamline that year.
THE CARDINALS LAST YEAR: The Cardinals finished 2019 at 15-13 overall, 5-6 in the MIAC, just missing the MIAC tournament. The Cardinals won five of their first six matches, but finished the 2020-21 season at 5-4 overall, playing a spring schedule.
LAST TIME THEY MET: UW-Stout ran their season record to 3-0 with their third straight 3-0 match win as the Blue Devils slipped past Saint Mary's University, 25-23, 25-22, 25-22, in a tight match Sept. 4, 2019 in Winona, Minn. The Cardinals gave the Blue Devils their toughest match so far for the short season. Stout (3-0) put together a balanced attack with four players putting down five or more kills, with Lexie Nelson (So, St. Michael, Minn), the reigning WIAC athlete of the week, leading the way with a team-high eight kills. Emily Makina (Sr, Orland Park, Ill) and Lydia Kneubuehl (Fr, Cottage Grove) each put down six kills and Caroline Braun (Fr, Mantorville, Minn) with five kills. Stout recorded 10 block assists, with Knuebuehl working three assists and Nelson and McKylie Hoff (Sr, Barron) two each. Nelson and Jessica DuVal (Sr, Logan, Iowa) combined for 28 assists, with DuVal recording 15 and Nelson 13. Steph Cannon (Sr, Mora, Minn) recorded a match-high 23 digs. The Cardinals' Lexi Barth led all scorers with nine kills.
LAKE FOREST COLLEGE: The Foresters look to return their top three attacker from last season in Olivia Smith (2.75 k/set), Isabel Donelley (2.22) and Hayley Bryant (2.05).
THE FORESTERS LAST YEAR: The Foresters finished 2019 at 11-14 overall, 4-5 in the Midwest Conference.
LAST TIME THEY MET: The Blue Devils took a 3-0 win over the Foresters at a tournament in Platteville, Sept. 28, 2007, in their only meeting since at least 1994.
WISCONSIN LUTHERAN COLLEGE: The Warriors are slated to return their three all-conference players. first team picks Ally Goba and Grace Tomhave, along with honorable mention pick Alyssa Charron, the first time the Warriors have had two first team picks since 2010. Goba led the Warriors with 488 digs for an average of 4.69 digs per set. Tomhave led WLC with 217 kills for an average of 2.19 kills per set. Charron led the Warriors and the NACC with 0.97 blocks per set which equated to 96 total blocks.
THE WARRIORS LAST YEAR: The Warriors finished 2019 at 17-13 overall, 9-3 in the NACC, falling in the first round of the NACC tournament.
LAST TIME THEY MET: The Blue Devils captured a 3-1 win last season over the Warriors in Oshkosh, but lost a 3-2 decision at Oshkosh in the 2018 Pizza Hut Classic.
ST. NORBERT COLLEGE: The Green Knights will have to move on without All-American Lexi Van Heil, the middle blocker who earned AVCA honorable mention honors lin 2019. Van Hiel totaled 329 kills with 79 errors in 680 attempts. She also finished with a team-high 84 blocks and added 28 digs. Slated to return are all-conference picks outside hitter Grace Baumann, a first team pick and libero Liz Maastricht, a second-team honoree. Maastricht was also named MWC Newcomer of the Year. Baumann finished with a team-best 3.83 kills per set during the regular season. She paced the Green Knights with 417 kills and was second on the squad with 354 digs. Baumann added 48 blocks and 26 service aces. Maastricht paced the back row with 538 digs, an average of 5.33 per set.
THE GREEN KNIGHTS LAST YEAR: The Green Knights were 24-9 overall, 9-1 in the Midwest Conference. St. Norbert closed out the season with a 3-2 loss to Grinnell College in the Midwest championship game.
LAST TIME THEY MET: The teams last met at the 2018 Pizza Hut Classic in Oshkosh with the Green Knights grabbing a 3-2 win
LAKELAND UNIVERSITY: Senior setter Neenah Primas is among the leaders returning for the Muskies, after moving up to fifth on Lakeland's all-time list for career assists with 2,566 through three seasons. Middle blocker Megan Goeser returns after ranking second in NACC in solo blocks (24), seventh in hitting percentage (.272), and ninth in total blocks (69).
THE MUSKIES LAST YEAR: Lakeland won a share of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference regular-season title for the Muskies' first conference championship since 2009. Lakeland finished the season at 19-15 overall, 10-2 in NACC play and advanced to the semi-final game of the NACC tournament.
LAST TIME THEY MET: The teams met twice last season, with Stout taking both matches. In a season opening tournament at Whitewater, the Blue Devils took a 3-0 win, then swept the series with a 3-1 win in St. Louis, Mo., in October.
CONFERENCE & NATIONAL POLLS: The Blue Devils were picked to finish seventh in the WIAC, according to a preseason poll by conference coaches and sports information directors.
UW-STOUT COACH MANDY TRAUTMANN: Coach Mandy Trautmann (39-25) is in her fourth season as the head coach of the Blue Devils in 2021. In her first season as head coach in 2018, Trautmann led the Blue Devils to a home WIAC playoff berth, the first for the Blue Devils since 2004. Trautmann took over the Blue Devils after a season as an assistant coach. Prior to coming to Stout, Trautmann was the team captain for UW-Oshkosh in 2015, a season the Titans captured the WIAC regular season championship. Trautmann was a two-time first team all-WIAC selection in 2014 and 2015, and an honorable mention choice in 2013. She was named to the all-WIAC defensive team in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
BLUE DEVIL ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: Week One: Offensive athlete of the week: Lexie Nelson, Sr St. Michael, Minn. (St. Michael-Albertville); Defensive athlete of the week: Terrah Moshier, So, Oakdale, Minn. (Tartan).
AWARDS: 2021: Lexie Nelson and Jessica Barr were selected to the all-tournament team at the Grinnell College/Central College Invitational.
DOWN THE ROAD: The Blue Devils return to Menomonie, Wednesday, Sept. 15 to open conference play when they host UW-La Crosse at 7 p.m. Stout will play Bethel University and UW-Superior, Saturday, Sept. 18 at the Bethel University Invitational.
* * *
NOTE: Stout has a 33 match losing streak to UW-Whitewater (after 2019). The last time Stout defeated the Warhawks was Oct. 8, 1994. The streak started when the teams met again later in the month in the WWIAC playoffs.
