UMD volleyball head coach Jim Boos discusses deep roster ahead of season opener

On Friday the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) volleyball team serves up their season opener.

The Bulldogs begin their 2023 campaign in the Ferris State Invitational as the eighth ranked team in the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s preseason poll.

Coming off a trip to the second round of the NCAA Central Regional tournament last season UMD still boasts a strong roster despite graduating 2022 captain Sydney Lanoue.

“If you look at last year’s stats we had five players averaging between two-and-a-half and three-and-a-half kills a set and that makes us really challenging to defend,” head coach Jim Boos explained. “I think this year distribution may be a little bit different, but there’s still going to be a lot of similarities to being evenly distributed across the board so that you can never hone in directly on what the plan is.”

“So we lost Syd Lanoue, which was a big part of our team. So trying to fill her spot is a big thing that we’re working on right now, but I think everyone is stepping up with her being gone,” senior outside hitter Cianna Selbitschka said.

UMD’s first serve of the season will be Friday at 1 p.m. against Adelphi University, then they face Ferris State University at 4 p.m. later that Friday.

Following that the Bulldogs host the Up North Preseason Tournament September 7-9.