The University of Minnesota Duluth returned home to Romano Gymnasium after a week on the road, knocking off No. 20 Augustana (S.D.) University 3-1 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play on Friday evening in Duluth.

No. 5 UMD (15-4, 8-2 NSIC) created some separation for itself in the NSIC standings by knocking off No. 20 Augie (13-5, 6-4 NSIC) and did so in the match as well: opening up early leads in its three game victories as it pulled off a four-set win by scores of 25-16, 25-12, 22-25, and 25-11. With senior setter Ashley Hinsch serving in game one, the Bulldogs opened and 8-0 lead, let the Vikings pull within four and then pulled away again. UMD led 12-3 and 17-4 in game two and held on to open up a 2-0 lead in the match. Augustana came out firing in game three, making just one attack error and hitting a match-high .412 to prevent the sweep. The Vikings would finish with 21 attack errors in the match as they never had fewer than six in the other three games and hit .000 in both the second and fourth sets.

Hinsch, who finished with 57 assists on the night, once again set up another Bulldog run while serving as the team quickly turned an 11-8 lead into a 20-9 lead and then held on from there. She spread the ball around as five Bulldogs had at least eight kills on the night and three struck double digits, led by senior outside hitter Mariah Scharf with 21 and freshman right-side hitter Sarah Kelly with 15. Senior middle blocker Monica Turner took part in five of UMD's 9.0 blocks, including one solo, and now has 355 in her career, one shy of the second-most in a Bulldog career and eight shy of the number one spot. Augustana was led by redshirt freshman outside hitter Lauren Waite who collected nine kills while junior right-side hitter Dani Magdzas had seven kills and four blocks, including two solo.
 OUTSIDE HITS
UMD ran its record to 31-8 all-time against Augie ... the Vikings used three setters on the night who combined for 36 assists, led by sophomore Alex Banker's 16 ... junior outside hitter Taylor Wissbroecker continued a string of seven-straight games hitting double digit kills with 12 on the night ... Kelly's 15 kills  were all the more impressive given she did not have an error on the night, hitting .652 on 23 swings ... UMD collected just 11 errors, including six in the third-set defeat and hit .433 as a team on the night ... first-year libero Erin Schindler led the Bulldogs with 26 digs on the night while sophmore Tahlyr Banks had 17 for Augie.

UP NEXT
UMD will host its annual pink game on Saturday afternoon at Romano Gym when the team challenges another ranked foe with No. 9 Wayne State (Neb.) College in town for more NSIC action. Opening serve is set for 4:00 p.m.