The University of Minnesota Duluth set out to prove its Saturday night defeat in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference place was more hiccup than trend as the Bulldogs made short work of a three-set sweep of St. Cloud State University on Tuesday night in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
No. 8 UMD (16-5, 9-3 NSIC) turned a back-and-forth first set into a dominant 25-15 statement to start the match. St. Cloud State (8-12, 4-8 NSIC) actually led 2-1 early and were tied at 7-7 opened up the match with a 10-4 run before closing game one on a six-point run. The Bulldogs continued that momentum into game two, turning a 4-3 lead into a 10-4 lead. Out of a timeout, the Huskies scored a pair of points but UMD opened another run to make it 18-6 and eventually 25-10 to open a 2-0 lead. After the intermission between sets, the Bulldogs jumped out ahead once again, 10-3 before St. Cloud rallied to pull within four forcing head coach
Jim Boos to take his first timeout of the night. A 6-1 run in favor of UMD made the score 16-7 and forced a timeout on the other side of the court. Unfortunately for St. Cloud, they could not rally as the Bulldogs rolled to a 25-11 game three victory.
Offensively, UMD resembled last Friday night's victory far more than their defeat three nights ago, hitting at a .361 clip but the defense also played a huge role, led at the night by senior middle blocker
Monica Turner who inched ever close to the all-time career blocks lead at UMD with five, including one solo, to bring her to 362, one short of the 363 tallied by Joleyn Young ('91). Junior outside hitter
Taylor Wissbroecker collected a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs to aid freshman libero
Erin Schindler, who had 14 defensive saves. Senior outside
Mariah Scharf led the Bulldog attack with 13 kills. UMD had just eight attack errors while senior setter
Ashley Hinsch collected 38 assists on the night.
OUTSIDE HITSUMD runs its record to 69-33 all-time against SCSU, concluding a season sweep (W 3-0 on Sept. 22, 2015) .. the Huskies hit -0.052 as a team on the night with 27 attack errors to just 22 kills (the Bulldogs totalled 38 kills) ... Scharf herself had three of UMD's five service aces.
UP NEXTThe Bulldogs will continue on the road this weekend beginning Friday in Mankato, Minnesota when UMD takes on Minnesota State University as the NSIC season continues. Opening serve is set for 7:00 p.m.
