With just six matches remaining on the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular season, the University of Minnesota Duluth finds itself in a dogfight in the heat of the NSIC standings currently on the outside looking up at a home match in the opening round of the conference tournament after winning the league a season ago.

Currently tied for fifth in the conference, UMD (16-7, 9-5 NSIC) sits three losses back from a three-way tie for second in the league with six to go. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, after No. 24 Winona State University on Friday evening, the Bulldogs don't have a ranked foe on the schedule until the season finale against No. 2 and current first-place team Northern State University. Moreover, those four opponents are a combined 38-52 overall and just 16-40 in NSIC play this season. So, maintaining a winning edge against the bottom of the league and a little help could put UMD in better position as they close out the regular season with the rematch against the Wolves. It begins this weekend at Romano Gym, though, as the Warriors and Upper Iowa Univeristy Peacocks come to face off against the Bulldogs.

SCOUTING THE WARRIORS | 14-7, 8-6 NSIC
No. 24 Winona State has been firmly entrenched around to the no. 25 spot of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25 rankings all season, moving up a spot this week thanks in large part to a five match winning streak ... currently a game back of the Bulldogs, WSU is tied for seventh in the NSIC standings ... sophomore setter McKenna Larson has done her fair share of attacking for Winona State, currently ranking 10th in the NSIC for hitting .336 with 135 kills on the year and seventh with 10.76 assists per game ... sophomore outside hitter Taylor Goar currently ranks fifth in the NSIC averaging 4.00 kills per game ... head coach Joe Getzin is in his second season on the bench for the Warriors ... UMD has posted a 71-1 all-time record against Winona State including a 3-0 victory last season on Oct. 3, 2014.

SCOUTING THE PEACOCKS | 13-10, 7-7 NSIC
Upper Iowa won a pair last weekend and are victorious in 5-of-6 after a slow start to their NSIC campaign ... the Peacocks currently sit two games back of UMD and in ninth place in the conference standings ... senior outside hitter Jennifer Mundt ranks only behind UMD's Mariah Scharf with 4.27 kills per game on the season ... senior libero Taylor Williams is hauling in 4.71 digs per set, sixth-best in the NSIC ... head coach Aaron Nelson is in his fourth season leading the Peacocks ... the Bulldogs are a perfect 10-0 all-time against Upper Iowa including a 3-1 win last season on Oct. 4, 2014.

OUTSIDE HITS
UMD posted a rare losing record last week (1-2), picking up a road victory over St. Cloud State on Tuesday evening ... senior middle blocker Monica Turner knocked back nine blocks on the week, jettisoning herself to the top of the Bulldog all-time list for total blocks in a career, now with 366 ... the previous career blocking mark had been held since 1991 when Joleyn Young collected 363 in her four seasons at UMD ... senior outside hitter Mariah Scharf averaged 4.20 kills per game last week while also adding three service aces and four blocks ... senior setter Ashley Hinsch averaged 11.60 assists per game on the week.

LINKS TO WATCH
Live Stats & Video (both matches)

UMD will hit the court Friday night at Romano Gym looking to break a rare losing skid when they play host to Winona State at 7:00 p.m.