Nearly every ball that Mariah Scharf hit hard found the Romano Gym floor as the senior outside hitter powered the ninth-ranked University of Minnesota Duluth to a three-set sweep of No. 24 Winona State University on Friday night in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action.

UMD (17-7, 10-5 NSIC) needed comebacks in both the first and second sets, but dominated in the third as the Bulldogs won going away at 25-17, 25-22, and 25-16. Winona State (14-8, 8-7 NSIC) led 11-6 in game one before giving up 19-of-25 points to UMD, who sided out at a 67 percent clip on the night. The Warriors went up 11-6 again and later 20-17 on the Bulldogs in game two but saw UMD charge back again. The Bulldogs gave up a pair of multi-point runs in the the third set but held the lead the entire way as they put away Winona state in three.

Scharf led all hitters with 20 kills on 34 swings while making just one error on the night. Joining her with double-digit kills for the Bulldogs was junior middle blocker Sydnie Mauch with 11. She too had just one error on 17 swings. Sophomore outside hitter Danielle Rampart had eight kills to lead the Warriors, who totaled just 33 on the night compared to 51 for UMD. Senior setter Ashley Hinsch had 44 assists for UMD, while freshman libero Erin Schindler had 16 digs. Every player who saw the court for the Bulldogs had at least one dig, except freshman right-side hitter Sarah Kelly who had six attacks and two assists.

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UMD will be back in action at Romano Gym tomorrow with Upper Iowa University coming to town for more NSIC action. Opening serve is set for 4:00 p.m.