Not this particular group.

Considering only two of the 18 players on the roster have been with the Beavers for the past two seasons, it’s pretty easy to see why MSU’s athletes are looking forward, not backward.

“(The streak is) out there, but we’re not thinking about it,” said junior setter Kelsey DeWulf, one of the players that has been with MSU since the start. “We’re not letting that determine who we are. We have absolutely nothing to lose, so we’re just going after everyone else right now. Nobody is going to expect anything from us and maybe that can work to our advantage.”

DeWulf racked up 526 set assists last season, which led the team. Offensively, MSU’s top two hitters return in sophomores Emily Falldorf and Shelby Spuller. Spuller led MSU in kills with 221, while Falldorf racked up an even 200.

Photos courtesy of Minot State athletics Minot State junior setter Kelsey DeWulf records a set assist during a college volleyball game last season.

“Our practices have much more intensity, and that’s something we were lacking with our practices last year was intensity and focus,” Falldorf said. “We’re focused on the bigger picture.”

Falldorf attributed the culture change to the hiring of new MSU coach Dana Cordova and said Cordova’s arrival was “one of the best things to happen to MSU’s volleyball program.”

Before joining Minot State, Cordova spent the past six seasons at Tiffin University in Tiffin, Ohio. She went 72-99 overall record, but is coming off a 19-12 season last year. The 19 wins was the most for Tiffin since moving to Division II.

“I’m the type of person where I like to rebuild,” Cordova said. “I feel like I did my job at my old school bringing them from a team that also hadn’t won a conference game since they went Division II. So, it was a very similar situation. I feel like what Minot State has to offer the kids is education, athletic opportunities here, the location and the school.

“Of all the schools I’ve been to, this is going to be the most fun to build. If you build a good team in this conference, you’re not only building a good conference team, you’re building a nationally ranked team.”

Looking ahead to the 2017 season, not much is expected from Cordova’s group, as the Beavers were picked last in the NSIC coaches poll. But that doesn’t seem to bother the first year coach.

“Well, I don’t have many expectations right now and I don’t have to live up to much,” Cordova said. “But with this team, we’re shooting to go beyond that. We’re not letting the 0-40 hold us back, we’re using that as an incentive. When we get that conference win, and we will get that first conference win, we’re going to celebrate it and then expect more to come.”

In the Beavers’ defense regarding the streak, they are playing against the premier competition in Division II volleyball, with five NSIC teams ranked in the top 10 in the NCAA Division II AVCA Preseason Coaches poll.

“Playing in the NSIC is a lot of competition, there’s never a game where you’re not being challenged,” DeWulf said. “You’re always out there looking for the next number one. It’s crazy, because you can play the number one and number two in one weekend but then you’ll move into next week and you’ll still be playing the number two or three team in the nation because the conference is so good and always changes.”

In future years, Cordova says she thinks big-name recruits will come to MSU. But before that can happen, the Beavers need to lay a foundation of success. In her eyes, the 2017 season is the first step to that foundation.

“We’re going to do it right now with the girls we have here,” she said. “We had a lot of freshmen last year that were offensive minded players so we brought in a lot of defensive players this year.

“Next year, we’ll really concentrate on our front row. We feel with the girls we have coming back they were offensively oriented so we wanted to get the defensive side of the game stronger on our serve receive. We want girls who want to come here and for that we need to lay a foundation.”

MSU opens the season at 3 p.m. on Sept. 1 by hosting a doubleheader with the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and Montana State University Billings.

Garrick Hodge covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @Garrick_Hodge.