In this week’s edition of Lots O’Stuff we write more about volleyball in South Dakota than you would think.
Also, we’ll update on some former area athletes competing in college.
DWU wins in nationals
Heron Lake-Okabena-Lakefield graduate Lindsay Wilber’s Dakota Wesleyan team defeated Saint Xavier, Ill. 3-1 Saturday in the opening round of the NAIA at the World’s Only Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D. Set scores were 25-23, 19-25, 25-21, 25-22.
Lindsay is the daughter of Tub and Amy Voss of Jackson. She’s married to Matt Wilber, who is the head men’s basketball coach at Wesleyan.
The Tigers have only one senior on their roster, the majority of which is from South Dakota.
DWU does have two Minnesota players including two former Section 3A athletes, Dannielle Bruns of MACCRAY and Kaylee Johnson of Hendricks.
The remainder of the tournament will be played at Tyson Events Center in Sioux City Nov. 30-Dec. 4.
Dakota Wesleyan will compete in Pool D. The Tigers will compete against two teams out of the Heart of America Athletic Conference in Park University (Mo.) and Grand View University (Iowa).
The Tigers will play Grand View at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 30 and Park at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 1.
Wesleyan now has a record of 24-9. The Tigers were fourth in the rugged Great Plains Athletic Conference regular season with a 10-6 mark.
Steady climb
Lindsay is in her eighth season at Dakota Wesleyan and the Tigers have made steady improvement in that time.
DWU’s records under Wilber:
2014: 8-21
2015: 11-20
2016: 18-14
2017: 16-18
2018: 17-14
2019: 20-12
2020: 12-9
2021: 24-9*
*Still active
The GPAC qualified seven teams for the NAIA tourney and all each won its opening-round match. Dakota Wesleyan was the only team to lose a set. The other six teams all won 3-0.
DWU is in the national tournament for the first time since 1990.
Someone you know who now writers newsletters on Substack arrived in South Dakota just as that 1990 season started and was the sports editor at the Mitchell Daily Republic.
When I got to town the team had just returned from a season-opening trip to Japan. The season would end in Hawaii at the national tournament and I didn’t make that trip either.
Mary Schrad was in her second of three years as the head coach at Wesleyan after previously coached at Casper, Wyo. Community College. The Tigers were 42-6 in her first season in Mitchell and 47-10 the season they went to nationals.
Schrad had played for the Iowa Cornets of the Women's Basketball League and also played in Austria.
She’s in the Basketball Hall of Fame as she was recognized for pioneering the way for the WNBA. As part of the 25th anniversary of the WNBA, the WBL was honored by the WNBA for setting the path for them to be successful.
In 1979, Schrad played a small role in the United Artists film, Dribble. For some reason the movie was also known as Scoring.
I’m pretty sure Schrad is No. 40 for the Vixens in this clip although she’s not identified. You do see Pete Maravich.
Not mentioned in the clip but appearing in the movie was Dennis Haysbert, who played Pedro Cerrano in the Major League movies, has appeared on several TV shows including The Unit and 24 and is the voice of the Allstate commercials as well as being the opening voice for Meet The Press.
I’ll have to confirm with JCC girls basketball coach and renowned movie expert Rafe York, but it does not appear that Dribble won any Academy Awards.
Sioux Falls Christian wins again
There’s more volleyball news from the Mount Rushmore state.
Sioux Falls Christian won its fifth consecutive state Class A championship Saturday night in Rapid City, beating Garretson 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-15).
SFC was one of three state championship teams to beat Jackson County Central this season.
Two of those losses came in a three-day span as Class 3A state champion Marshall beat the Huskies 3-1 on Sept., 14 and Sioux Falls Christian beat JCC 3-0 on Sept. 16.
Jackson County Central also lost 3-1 to Sauk Centre 3-1 in the championship match of the state Class 2A tournament at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul last weekend.
Other losses for the Huskies were to Southwest Christian, fifth in the Class 2A tourney after being seeded first; Eden Prairie, third in Class 4A; Prior Lake, another Class 4A school; and Sioux Falls Roosevelt, third in Class AA in South Dakota.
Also in the South Dakota state tourney, Huron placed sixth in Class AA in the Tigers’ 13th straight trip.
For the first dozen years of that streak Huron was coached by Shelly Buddenhagen, the daughter of former Jackson residents Tyrone and Vereen Wacker. She retired after last season.
Shelly was named Coach of the Year in Class AA and her daughter, TyAnn Ulmer, was named Assistant Coach of the Year.
TyAnn is still on the Huron volleyball staff as assistant coach. This winter, she’ll be an assistant girls basketball coach at Huron for her dad, and Shelly’s husband, Tim Buddenhagen.
Tim has been the head girls basketball coach a long time. He had the job during my time in Mitchell and Shelly was his assistant.
In the fall of 1990 (girls basketball was played in the fall in South Dakota then) Huron and Mitchell had four great games. The teams split during the regular season, the Tigers won in the District tournament and Gary Munsen’s Kernels won at the state tournament in Watertown.
That Huron team was led by Amy Burnett, who went on play at Wyoming and was a two-time Player of the Year in the Western Athletic Conference.
Shelly and Tim’s other daughter, Tenley, is a freshman manager with the Jamestown University volleyball team, which is 32-0, ranked first in the country and will be the number one seed in its pool for the NAIA tournament in Sioux City.
That’s a long enough trip in the Wayback Machine. Let’s get on to some other stuff after
College athlete news
Jackson County Central graduate Hailey Handevidt, a junior with the Augustana University women’s swimming and diving team, competed for the Vikings in the Augustana Invitational at Midco Aquatic Center in Sioux Falls.
She had a PR in the 100 butterfly (1:03.78). Hailey also competed in the 3-meter diving (118.05), 100 backstroke (1:11.90), 1-meter diving (137.50), 100 freestyle (57.78) and on the 4x100 freestyle relay team.
JCC grad Rudy Voss is a redshirt freshman quarterback with the South Dakota State football team, which closed out its season with a 24-21 win over North Dakota Saturday in Brookings.
The Jackrabbits will host UC Davis in the first round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Fairmont graduate Dustin Schultz, a freshman tight end at Wisconsin-LaCrosse, caught three passes for 40 yards including a 14-yard touchdown in the second quarter as the Eagles defeated Albion, Mich. 58-23 in the first round of the NCAA Division III football playoffs.
Another Fairmont grad, Jordan Wolter, is a freshman running back. UWL is at undefeated and top-ranked North Central College, Ill. next week. North Central’s first-round game was canceled after Carnegie Mellon was forced to withdraw from the tournament because several members of the team tested positive for Covid-19.
Martin County West graduate Alyssa Williamson is a a junior starter for the Hamline University women’s basketball team. She had five points, three rebounds and three assists in an 85-52 win over Martin Luther and one point and three rebounds in a 64-62 loss to Augsburg.
Hanna Geistfeld of Truman is a senior with the Bethany Lutheran College women’s basketball team.
On Saturday Geistfeld had a double-double of 30 points and 11 rebounds for the Vikings in a 74-67 loss to North Park University. That came after 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists in a 63-46 win over Elmhurst Friday. For the season, Geistfeld is averaging 24.2 points and 9.7 rebounds.
Several former area wrestlers competed this weekend, seven for Augustana University and one for Augsburg University.
Two former Martin County Red Bulls lost for the Vikings in a 34-10 loss at South Dakota State, Jaxson Rohman (125) and Miles Fitzgerald (165).
Five other Augustana wrestlers competed in the Nebraska-Kearney Invitational.
JCC graduate Jacob Tvinnereim was 1-2 in 165 pounds in the Elite Division.
Three former Red Bulls wrestled in the Amateur Division, with Connor Simmonds going 5-2 at 149, Payton Anderson 3-2 at 157 and Nathan Simmonds 2-2 at 174.
Also, former Windom/Mountain Lake Cobra Kade Sammons was 3-2 at 141.
For Augsburg, former Red Bull Blake Jagodzinske placed second at 157 pounds in the First Year Division at the Augsburg Invitational with a 3-1 record.