The University of Minnesota Duluth will get a third chance at payback this week as the Bulldogs travel to No. 1-ranked Concordia University, St. Paul in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Postseason Tournament semifinals.

For No. 7 UMD (23-7), it will be the third-straight match against a top-ten team as well as the third-straight match against a team with a victory over the Bulldogs earlier this season. In both cases, the Bulldogs achieved their revenge victory to run their winning streak to seven-straight matches. Saturday, UMD will hope the third time is a charm as they try to beat a team that knocked them off twice in the regular season.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS | 25-4, 18-2 NSIC/First
No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul survived a five-set affair against Minnesota State University Mankato in Wednesday's quarterfinal round ... like UMD, the Golden Bears enter the weekend riding an impressive winning streak at 11-straight matches ... Concordia boasted five All-NSIC selections this year, senior middle blocker Heather Schiller and four juniors: middle blocker Riley Hanson, right-side hitter Emma Lange, outside hitter Anna Schlaak, and setter Kasey Williams ... Schlaak gave UMD the most trouble this season with 23 kills in two matches ... the Bulldogs will have to do better avoiding Concordia's block on Saturday as the Bears collected 18 blocks compared to just eight for UMD in the regular season ... head coach Brady Starkey is in his 13th season leading Concordia ... despite two losses this season, the Bulldogs lead the all-time series 23-20 against the Golden Bears.

THE OTHER SEMIFINAL
On the other side of the bracket, second-seed No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State University (25-4) also narrowly avoided upset in five sets against No. 24 Augustana (S.D.) University, and will take on No. 21 Winona State University (19-9), who not only picked up an upset victory but swept third-seed No. 4 Northern State University that now lost two in a row after having just three losses the entire rest of the season. Despite having the most losses among the four teams remaining in the tournament, the Warriors have made a habit of making upsets with wins over top-ten teams Concordia and Wayne State (Neb.) College in the NSIC regular season. The Warriors are led by three sophomores: All-NSIC First Team outside hitter Taylor Goar and second-team outside hitter Danielle Rampart and setter McKenna Larson. Southwest Minnesota State Univrsity boasts the league's Freshman of the Year in All-NSIC First Team middle blocker Taylor Reiss as well as first team right-side hitter Abbey Thissen. The Mustangs also had sophomore setter Megan Larson and junior middle hitter Sarah Parker selected to the second team. SMSU is battle-tested in the postseason, appearing in the NCAA II National Championship game a season ago.

OUTSIDE HITS
In Wednesday night's victory over Wayne State, senior setter Ashley Hinsch lifted 62 assists (the third-straight match she reached 60), putting her firmly in third-place all-time at UMD with 5,583 in her career which is 12 behind Julie Bubar ('93) for second-place all-time but still more than 400 behind Katie Gangelhoff's ('08) program record of 6,035 ... senior outside hitter Mariah Scharf surpassed Kari Wolford ('07) for ninth-place all-time in career kills, now with 1,256 in her career ... junior outside hitter Taylor Wissbroecker leads the Bulldogs with eight double-doubles on the season (kills/digs), and set a career-high with 22 defensive saves last night against Wayne State ... Wissbroecker owns the nation's second-highest hitting percentage in a single game, having knocked down 20 kills without an error on 28 swings (.714) against Minot State University on Oct. 3 ... Hinsch and Scharf were each named to the All-NSIC First Team last week ... senior Monica Turner and junior Sydnie Mauch, each a middle blocker, were named to the conference's Second Team.

HOW TO FOLLOW
... All matches: Live Video | Live Stats

UP NEXT
Winona State and Southwest Minnesota State will get the semifinal action started at Noon in St. Paul, with the Bulldogs and Golden Bears taking the court around 2:30 p.m. Saturday pending the length of the first match. Sunday's championship match between the two winners will be contest at 2:00 p.m.