The University of Minnesota clinched a share of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship with a 3-0 victory over Augustana (S.D.) College on Saturday for "Senior Night" at Romano Gymnasium.

No. 2 UMD (25-1, 18-0 NSIC) ran its winning streak to 19 matches with set wins of 25-18, 25-8, and 25-11 over Augustana (16-10, 9-9 NSIC, RV). The Bulldogs have now claimed three of the last four NSIC regular season titles, sharing with Concordia University, St. Paul in 2011 and both CU and Southwest Minnesota State in 2012. The Bulldogs will have a chance to clinch their first solo regular season championship since 2007 with at least one victory in next weekend's conference road finales against No. 8 SMSU and the University of Sioux Falls.
 
HIGHLIGHTS
• UMD honored its five seniors after the match, with each playing a part in the victory: senior outside hitter Katie Ledwell had a double-double with 10 kills and 15 digs, senior libero Julie Rainey had 15 digs, senior right-side hitter Maddy Siroin had three service aces and nine digs, senior outside hitter Aly Kujawa had three digs and a pair of assists, and senior middle blocker Jessica Zieman knocked down a kill in the third set.
• Junior setter Ashley Hinsch had 39 digs to close out an impressive weekend from a setting standpoint while adding a pair of kills. Junior outside hitter Mariah Scharf had 16 kills to lead the Bulldogs. Junior middle blocker Monica Turner played part in all four of UMD's blocks while also knocking down eight kills on 15 swings with just one error.
Augustana came out swinging early against the Bulldogs but was without its top attacker, senior outside hitter Courtney Ysker, throughout the match, causing some difficulty for the Vikings offensively, as they hit just .086 as a team in the match. Still, Augie was tough up front with five blocks and several more frustrations caused against the UMD attack. The Vikings led early in the first game, trading points with UMD before the Bulldogs ran off seven of 10 points to take a 21-15 lead before Augustana had to take a timeout. The pause halted the run as Augie scored the next two points, but a timeout for the Bulldogs produced four of five points to clinch the game one win 25-18.

UMD played nearly error-free ball throughout a dominant second set with just one in the game while the Vikings had 10 errors called against them including a game-clinching ball handling error as the Bulldogs closed out a 5-0 run to complete the set victory. Augustana led early in the third set, but again fortune shifted in the favor of the Bulldogs as they ran off six points in a row to take a 12-7 lead. After trading points thanks to a pair of Bulldog errors, UMD refocused and ran off seven in a row and then five of the last six to finish off a match victory.

UP NEXT
UMD will close out the season with three matches next week beginning with a non-conference rematch against No. 3 Concordia on Tuesday night at the Ganglehoff Center in St. Paul. Opening serve is set for 7:00 p.m.