After a grueling five-set victory to No. 14 Winona State University the prior night, sophomore middle blocker Abby Thor propelled the University of Minnesota Duluth to a straight sets sweep against Upper Iowa University Saturday afternoon in Fayette Iowa. Thor hammered home a collegiate high 12 kills en route to the Bulldogs 3-0 victory (25-21, 28-26, 25-23) over their Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opponent. Her previous high was 11 kills against then-No. 18 Wanye State College. Thor was UMD's most efficient hitter on the court today after the Bulldogs had to swing a season-high 176 times. Her .500 hitting percentage ( three errors on 18 total swings) led all attackers who had more than five attempts.

Everything seem to go right in the first set for UMD. The Peacocks called timeout in rapid succession to stop the Bulldogs initial burst. UMD hopped out to 15-8 lead. UIU would only get squeeze the lead to 16-12. Freshman outside hitter Kate Berg posted six first-set kills to lead the Bulldogs .308 hitting percentage. UMD maintained in good control of the second set. UIU used a six-point run to overtake the lead at 16-13. After flipping side outs, the Peacocks jumped out to a 21-16 and it had the looks of another taxing game. However, UIU crumbled with five attack errors sandwiched between a junior right side hitter Sarah Kelly kill to square the frame at 22. UMD had a chance to close it at 24-23 but a Peacock double block continued to set to extras. The Bulldogs survived  teo set points before rallying with three straight kills to grab the second.

After the brief break, the Bulldogs rifled out to an early lead again. UMD led 10-5 then stretched it out further to 16-9. The Peacocks battled back to tie it at 19. After trading points, the Bulldogs went back to Thor to finish the match. Thor slammed home two of the next three points to gave UMD the lead to the end. Thor closed out the third set slamming five kills with no errors.

Berg finished with 15 kills to lead all players. Kelly was third in kills with 11. Kelly and junior outside hitter Makenzie Morgen each led UMD with nine digs. Sophomore setter Emily Torve had 42 assists and senior setter Sarah Heesacker had seven in spot duty.


The Bulldogs return to Romano Gymnasium as part of homecoming week. It is also UMD's Dig Pink weekend which will feature two nights dedicated towards raising money and awareness for breast cancer. First game of that action-packed weekend is Friday night versus Minot State University at 6:00 p.m.