By John Rittenhouse
A Rock County athlete could help take the Augustana College volleyball team to an event it has never been to before.
Tara Boeve, a 1999 Hills-Beaver Creek High School graduate, and the rest of the Viking spikers are gearing up for the NCAA Division 2 North Central Region Volleyball Tournament they will host at the Elmen Center in Sioux Falls today through Saturday.
Augustana is the No. 1 seed for the eight-team, single elimination tournament, and a pair of wins would send the team to the Elite Eight National Tournament for the first time in school history.
Boeve, a starting middle blocker for the Vikings, hopes this could be the year Augustana makes it to the Elite Eight.
The Vikings have made it to the regional tournament for the past five years and seven times in school history, but the closest they came to advancing to the national event was making it to the regional championship game once and losing that match.
"We have five seniors on the team this year, so we really should do well," Boeve said. "They have come close (to winning the regional) before, and this is their chance to do it. It will be tough because any team involved has a good chance to win it. If we play at the top of our game, we'll have as good a chance as anyone to win our region."
The tournament opens tonight with No. 3 University of Nebraska-Omaha taking on No. 6 Moorhead State University at 6 p.m. The winner of that match plays No. 2 South Dakota State University at 6 p.m. Friday. No. 3 University of Northern Colorado plays No. 4 North Dakota State University at 7:30 p.m. tonight, and the winner takes on Augustana at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow.
The championship match is set for 7 p.m. Saturday.
Kim Suedbeck-Marcil, head coach of the nationally sixth-ranked Vikings, agrees with Boeve that any team involved could win the region title.
"All of these teams are pretty evenly matched. This region has five of the nationÕs top 16 ranked teams, and four of the nation's top 10 ranked teams. It will be an interesting tournament," Suedbeck-Marcil stated.
If the Vikings do make it to the Elite Eight, Boeve will be part of the reason why.
The former H-BC Patriot was recruited as a middle hitter, but she spent a good share of her freshman season playing as an outside hitter for the Vikings.
Boeve was asked to play the middle blocker position this season, and her coach said she made a successful transition.
"Tara's natural position is middle hitter, but she played as an outside hitter for three-quarters of the matches last year. After her freshman year, we decided to move her to a middle blocker position. She has done a tremendous job in the front row, blocking-wise in particular. She's definitely become an impact player. We thought she could make an impact as a middle blocker, and she has," Suedbeck-Marcil said.
Boeve has registered 75 total blocks this season, eight being solo blocks and 65 of the assisted-block variety. She also has recorded 125 kills and 19 digs.
In her two-year college career, Boeve has 99 total blocks (84 assisted blocks and 15 solo blocks), 248 kills and 43 digs.
Boeve said moving from the outside position to the middle position has improved her statistical output.
"It is a little different than last year, but I do like it better. I'm more comfortable now," she said.
Fate hampered Boeve's position transition early in the year.
During a September pre-season tournament in Denver, Colo., Boeve landed on the foot of a player while returning to the floor at the end of a leap. What she thought was a sprained ankle was determined to be a slight fracture, which put Boeve on crutches for two-plus weeks and off the court for more than one month.
"She missed about six weeks of our season," Suedbeck-Marcil said. "That's a lot of time off in this sport. Volleyball is a sport in which players progress by getting more and more reps (repetitions), and her ankle injury hurt her in that way. As far as being over the injury, sheÕs getting there."
Boeve said the ankle still is sore, but she claims the mental aspect of the setback is what hurts the most right now.
"I missed the rest of our pre-season tournaments and most of the first half of our conference schedule. It's hard now because most players are peaking at this time of the season, and I'm just getting to that level now," she said.
Even with a sore ankle, Boeve will be expected to make some contributions at the net for the Vikings at the Elmen Center tomorrow and Saturday. If Augustana College is to qualify for the Elite Eight for the first time, a total team effort will be required to win the regional.