The University of Minnesota Duluth volleyball team finally returns to its home floor at Romano Gym this week after an 8-0 start on the road this season.

After an impressive opening weekend, the Bulldogs continued to roll in Kenosha, Wis. this week at the Wisconsin-Parkside tournament, making a clean sweep of their opponents in each of their four matches. Now, the No. 2 Bulldogs return home on Tuesday evening with a non-conference match versus Michigan Tech University before opening NSIC play against the University of Minnesota-Crookston on Thursday.
 
The Opponents
Michigan Tech played four matches at Northern Michigan's tournament in Marquette, Mich. splitting four matches to move to 3-5 on the season. The Huskies were picked to finish seventh in their division of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic conference. Senior setter Madeline Haben leads Michigan Tech. She has  tallied 137 assists on the young season. On the offensive side, sophomore Sylvie Rokosh leads the way with 44 kills. UMD is 24-7 all-time against Michigan Tech with the teams' last meeting a 3-0 victory for the Bulldogs. Tuesday's match will be broadcast locally on My9 as well as online beginning at 7:00 p.m.
 
Thursday evening, UMD enters conference play against the 5-3 University of Minnesota-Crookston. Ironically, they also competed at the Wildcat Open in Marquette including a 3-0 victory over Michigan Tech. Junior outside hitter Brittany Looker leads the way offensively with 53 kills. Senior libero Chelsea Wiesner has 77 digs after eight matches. UMD has never lost to Minnesota-Crookston in 20 meetings including a 3-0 win on Nov. 3 last season. Live stats will be available for both home matches by clicking here, as well as a live video feed here.
 
After their home matches, the Bulldogs will head west on U.S. Highway 2 to take on another in-state NSIC foe in Bemidji State. The Beavers open NSIC play at St. Cloud State Thursday after going 4-4 in tournament play. Bemidji State boasts the 2012 NSIC Defensive Player of the Year in sophomore defensive specialist Courtney Fox as well as junior middle blocker Rachel Craig. Fox has 00 digs this season while Craig has racked up 00 kills. The Bulldogs have lost just three times to Bemidji State and this will be their 90^th meeting. UMD swept the Beavers in their meeting last November. Live stats and video will be available on BSU's website or by clicking here.
 
The Line-Up
After an opening weekend that brought in the individual accolades for UMD athletes, the Bulldogs continued to roll this past weekend as a team, moving to 8-0 on the season. Senior outside hitter and last week's AVCA national player of the week Kate Lange had another impressive weekend, beginning with a career-high and UMD school record 33 kills against then-No. 19 Indianapolis, also smashing four solo blocks in the match. She now sits at 1,591 career kills for the Bulldogs.

Sophomore middle blocker Monica Turner stepped up in a big way for UMD with 30 kills on the weekend, while juniors Maddy Siroin (MB) and Katie Ledwell (OH) were also key to the team's success. Ledwell had 40 digs on the weekend while also earning nine kills in the tournament finale. Siroin posted 17 kills in Saturday's matches.
 
UMD stops back home next Tuesday for a meeting with St. Cloud State before a highly anticipated meeting with No. 4 Concordia-St. Paul on Friday. If the Bulldogs can continue strong play this week, they should be riding a wave of momentum before meeting their conference rival, but they need to focus on holding their home-court advantage before worrying about what is yet to come.