Willmar notebook: Sussenguth makes it look easy

The Rodney Dangerfield of Tribune area sports teams is perhaps the Ridgewater College volleyball teams. At their level - NJCAA Division III - they’re the best in the nation the past 10 years. Surely, the Warriors are respected by opponents but the media and the general public just kind of takes the winning seasons piling up out there on the hill above Upper Foot Lake for granted.
This week, Ridgewater College ranks No. 3 nationally behind only 2014 national champion Madison, Wisconsin, and Rochester, Minnesota.
The Warriors shaded Rochester 3-2 on the Yellowjackets’ own court on Sept. 13. The 19-3 Jackets will be looking for payback 1 p.m. Saturday in Willmar.
Attendance is light at all Ridgewater College events, although the 1978-79 men’s basketball team drew crowds filling the college gym to capacity for the two-day regional tournament after Mel Lewis’s Warriors upset Golden Valley JC, coached by Flip Saunders, at Anoka in February, 1979.
Year after year, volleyball coach Joe Sussenguth brings in quality high school athletes and helps them to amplify their competitive attitude and elevate their skill set. He makes winning look easy, though it obviously can’t be. Thirteen other MCAC schools are also trying to get to the national stage.
Sussenguth started here in 2006 after coaching at Minneota, where his Vikings squads were 121-20 with four state trips.
His Ridgewater teams have won three national titles, placed national runners-up four times and third the other. Only once in those eight years did the Warriors fail to win a Region 13 title, losing in the championship to Central Lakes, but still advancing as the runners-up. When you have that kind of success, every team is out to drive a stake through your heart.
Entering this season, his career record of 240-53 amounts to a win rate of 82 percent. It would be even higher if he chose not to load the schedule with the toughest non-division foes he can arrange. That’s reflected in this fall’s record of 11-5 overall but 7-0 in the South Division.
A win Saturday for either team is more than cosmetic bragging rights. The winner takes a major step in securing home court for the region tournament in November. Rochester (7-1, 19-3) appears to be at the top of its game: consider that three of the four current MCAC South Players-of-the Week wear the Yellowjackets’ colors.
Oh, yes, the score the first meeting: 25-23, 23-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-13 or 108-106 total points won.
Balance a key
Asked about the progress of this year’s team, Sussenguth said: “We are still learning how to be competitive as a unit while taking time to improve as individuals. This team has great balance on offense and in serve-receive. We can score from any position and we understand the commitment needed receiving serves. I’ve never had to question our effort and work ethic; it has been a constant strength for us.”
Sussenguth typically recruits from small-town programs in the Tribune area and a little beyond. He’s had only one other player before [Maggie Zirk, 2010-11] out of the Dassel-Cokato program before but this year has three: hitter Ariana Hasti of Cokato, setter Kaitlyn Sterner of Dassel and hitter Brenna Olson of Dassel. “They come from a strong high school program and have a built-in chemistry that they’ve carried with them that has made the entire team even better.”
He continued in an email: “[The freshmen] have exhibited great poise and confidence and believe in our systems and philosophies. They will continue to get better, as we all will throughout the season, but I haven’t had to slow our system training down at all.”
Sophomore left-side hitter Jen Puncochar was a front-row player at Maple Lake but has grown into a solid back-row defender, passer and jump server to complement her attacks. Tracy Braaten, a 5-11 hitter from Sunburg (KMS), got off to a strong start, overcame a sprained ankle, and has made huge strides her second year, Sussenguth said.
On the fly
n The most current cross country coaches rankings (Sept. 22) has Willmar girls No. 1 in Class AA followed by Wayzata and Edina. The Cardinals have certainly lived up to the billing winning at the large Alexandria Invite on Saturday and scoring a perfect 15 Tuesday at the St. Cloud Tech Invite. The CLC also has the top-ranked individuals Bethany and Megan Hasz of Alexandria while Section 8AA, in which Willmar competes, has the Hasz twins followed by Jenna Truedson of Bemidji. In Class A girls, Alaysia Freetly is rated No. 4 and the Eagles of Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd that she leads is No. 3. Ben Burgett of Community Christian in Willmar is No. 12 Class A boys. Emily Donnay of Eden Valley-Watkins, who won the NLS Invite in September, is No. 1 Class A.
n Tara Rudie, who was running in 4k races for the Cardinals last fall, ran the TC Marathon, her first, on Sunday. She’s a student at Bethel University.
n Alexandria running back Justin Cumberbatch followed up his big game at Willmar with a three TD game vs. Grand Rapids while gaining 190 yards, earning CLC offensive Performance-of-Week honors.
n Ridgewater linebacker Luke Branch and strong safety Adihia Bell are the top two tacklers in the MCAC-South. Despite what the Ridgewater pocket schedules say, the Warriors do play this Saturday, a 1:30 p.m. home game with high-scoring North Dakota Science and are at Central Lakes on Oct. 18.
n Sophomore running back Austin Stone (NLS) has 28 carries for 49 net yards and 4 catches for 12 yards for Minnesota State Moorhead (1-4).
n Today after my modest swimming workout at the Bethesda Wellness Center, I was asked by a friend taking the Chair Yoga class what does “Pitch” mean as in the Kennedy pitch. Well, it’s the English word for sports field, whether cricket or their football. AmericanSoccer’s website points out I’m simply being “pretentious” using the English terminology and that “field” does quite nicely. Darn it!