Game Notes

Following a 25-4 (17-3 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) season, the University of Minnesota Duluth will kick off its quest for a NCAA Division II championship with a matchup against Winona State University on Thursday evening in the NCAA II Central Regional.

Winona State and UMD have battled twice previously, with the Bulldogs grabbing 3-1 and 3-0 victories. Most recently, UMD swept WSU in a road match on Nov. 12, led by sophomore outside hitter Makenzie Morgen's 13 kills and 12 digs. The Bulldogs outscored the Warriors 75-48 over the three sets. UMD hit for a .361 attack percentage -- its highest output in the previous nine matches. All-time, the Bulldogs have won all but one match in the two program's 75 meetings.

UMD will appear in the NCAA Tournament for the 19th time in program history, holding an all-time record of 18-16. The last time the Bulldogs competed in the NCAA Tournament in 2014, UMD won a pair of matches before falling to SMSU in the regional final. The Bulldogs have advanced to the Final Four on two occasions, with the most recent appearance coming in 2006. UMD has won at least one match in its previous four NCAA Tournament appearances.

SCOUTING THE WARRIORS | 26-5 (16-4 NSIC)

Winona State concluded its NSIC regular season with a 16-4 record, good for a fifth place finish ... outside of UMD, the Warriors lost just two conference matches (Southwest Minnesota State University and Concordia University-St. Paul) ... WSU was bounced from the NSIC Tournament following a 3-0 loss to Concordia in the semifinals ... the Warriors are led offensively by junior outside hitter Taylor Goar, who has racked up 382 kills (3.71 per set) ... three players from Winona State earned a place on the All-NSIC first team -- Goar, junior setter McKenna Larsen, and junior outside hitter Danielle Rampart ... Winona State's 26 win mark the third most in program history ... the Warriors hit .249 as a team while holding opponents to just a .154 attack percentage ... head coach Joe Getzin is in his third season with WSU, holding an overall record of 65-23 (42-18 NSIC).

SURVEYING THE FIELD

UMD will have to survive a Central Region field full of NSIC teams to advance to the NCAA Elite Eight -- No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul, No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State University, No. 4 UMD, No. 5 Winona State, No. 6 Augustana (S.D.) University, and No. 7 Wayne State (Neb.) College ... the University of Nebraska at Kearney and Southern Nazarene University grabbed the other two Central Region bids with automatic qualifiers from the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association and the Great America Conference.
 

Seed	Opponent	Record	Last Meeting
1	Concordia-St. Paul	24-22	L 3-2 - Nov. 4, 2016
2	Southwest Minnesota State	64-16	W 3-0 - Oct. 29, 2016
3	Nebraska-Kearney	7-3	L 3-1 - Nov. 18, 2010
5	Winona State	74-1	W 3-0 - Nov. 12, 2016
6	Augustana (S.D.)	31-9	L 3-1 - Oct. 22, 2016
7	Wayne State (Neb.)	26-8	L 3-2 - Nov. 16, 2016
8	Southern Nazarene	0-0	N/A

LINKS TO FOLLOW

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UMD and Winona State will open serve at 5:00 pm on Thursday at Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minn.