Lots O’ Stuff
Playing catchup after missing a few days
I wound up feeling under the weather over the weekend so haven’t get anything sent out in a few days. Time to catch up on what I can at this point.
Heron Lake-Okabena-Lakefield graduate Lindsay (Voss) Wilber recorded her 200th win as volleyball coach at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D. last week in the Tigers 3-0 win over Dordt in Sioux Center.
Wilber is in 12th season as coach of the Tigers.
She’s led DWU to the NAIA Women’s Volleyball National Championship twice, winning two matches in the 2021 tournament and three in 2022 to reach the Elite Eight and was ranked sixth in the final national poll.
Wesleyan is 16-10 overall this season, 9-6 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. The Tigers close out their regular season Tuesday at Briar Cliff. The GPAC tournament starts on Saturday.
Jackson County Central graduate Emma Haren, a 5-foot-11 sophomore outside hitter, had two more double-doubles for Morningside last week.
She had 11 kills, 16 digs and also had three ace serves in a 3-1 loss to Waldorf Wednesday in Forest City and then had 11 kills, 12 digs and three blocks in a 3-0 loss to Northwestern Saturday.
The Mustangs, 14-12 overall and 7-8 in the GPAC, host Dordt Tuesday.
Another JCC graduate, Georgianna Wenzel, is injured and not playing, but she was one of five seniors on the Briar Cliff volleyball team honored on Saturday.
In 41 sets in 14 matches Wenzel had 87 digs for 2.12 per set, which was the most pet set for the Chargers. She had seven kills and six ace serves.
Jackson County Central grad Sadie Voss had 15 kills, 20 digs, and three service ace serves for the University of Sioux Falls in a 3-1 win over Bemidji State on Friday. She followed that up with 14 kills, a team-high 17 digs, and three blocks Saturday in a 3-1 win over No. 21 Minnesota Duluth.
The Cougars, 15-9 overall and 10-6 in the NSIC, are at Jamestown and No. 22 Northern State next weekend.
Butterfield-Odin graduate Ryan Pierson, who competed in cross country and track and field for the co-op Martin County West/Butterfield-Odin teams, earned a spot on the all-time Top 20 list for the University of Wisconsin-River Falls men’s cross country program Saturday.
A sophomore, Pierson had an 8K time of 25:21.9 for the Falcons at the WIAC Championship at the XC Ranch in Oshkosh, Wis. He placed 44th out of 92 finishers.
UWRF will compete in the NCAA North Regional Championships Saturday, Nov. 15 in Colfax, Wis.
Martin County West graduate Max Olson, a 6-foot-3, 257-pound defensive lineman, was featured on the cover of the game notes for Saturday’s Gustavus-St. John’s MIAC football game in St. Peter Saturday:
Olson made six tackles (five solo and one assist) for the Gusties in a 31-13 loss to the No. 10 Johnnies. He had one sack for a loss of 10 yards and also recovered a fumble.
Gustavus, 3-5 overall and 3-4 in the MIAC, is at Augsburg next Saturday.
Martin County West graduate Emily Anderson, a 6-foot freshman forward, was the first player off the bench for the UW-River Falls women’s basketball team in a 104-40 loss to Division I Wisconsin last week at the Kohl Center in Madison.
Anderson played 16 minutes and 31 seconds and scored three points, going 1-for-3 from the field and 1-2 from the free throw line. She also had three rebounds.
The Falcons open their regular season schedule at home Friday and Saturday vs. Calvin (Mich.) University and Hope (Mich.) College.
UWRF starts WIAC play Jan. 3 vs. UW-LaCrosse,
Two Windom Area graduates are members of the Dordt University men’s hockey team. The Defenders are rated 11th in the most recent ACHA Men’s Division 3 national ratings.
Freshman Nick Espenson is fourth on the team in scoring with eight goals and 13 assists for 21 points, while senior Zach Espenson is fifth with five goals and 15 assists for 20 points.
Dordt is 13-1 overall, winning 13 straight after losing its season opener. The Defenders travel to face Missouri State this weekend and then host Lewis the following weekend.
Fun fact
Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk did something Saturday night (or technically Sunday morning local time that no player wants to do. Make the last out of the World Series.
Even if it comes free of pressure with the game well out of reach, the final out will be seen in highlights for decades to come, reminding everyone of your role in the ending.
So it’s probably a good thing that Tigers catcher Charles “Boss” Schmidt played before the advent of television -- because he’s the only player in history to make two World Series-ending outs. And worse, it happened in back-to-back seasons.
The first series-ender came in 1907, when Schmidt’s Tigers played the Cubs. In the ninth inning with two outs and a runner on first, Schmidt -- representing the tying run -- popped out to shortstop to seal a 2-0 Cubs win that captured the title. The next season, as the Tigers battled the Cubs again, Schmidt ended the decisive Game 5 with another popup, this time to the catcher, as the Cubs repeated.
Schmidt and the Tigers again reached the World Series in 1909, but they lost to the Pirates. This time, though, there was no series-ending out for Schmidt. But there could’ve been: He was on deck when the series ended.
Here’s a clip from The Paul Lynde Halloween Special that was broadcast on Oct. 29, 1976 on ABC.
Singing with Paul is Roz Kelly as Carol “Pinky” Tuscadero, the character that was the girlfriend of Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli on the television series Happy Days.
The show featured guest star Margaret Hamilton in a reprise of her role as the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. Other guests include Tim Conway, Florence Henderson, the rock band Kiss, Billy Barty, Betty White and, in an unbilled cameo appearance, Donny and Marie Osmond.