Much like the cliche of an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, tonight had a powerhouse offense colliding with a stagnant defense. One had to give and, in the case of the University of Minnesota Duluth, their offense got stuffed by Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference rival Minnesota State University-Moorhead, literally.

The Dragons needed every single one of their 17 blocks as they barely edged the Bulldogs in five sets to cap off the upset. UMD (19-3, 12-2 NSIC) was held to a .142 attack percentage and committed 40 errors on the night. The last time the Bulldogs were limited to that low of a clip was 37 contests ago when Concordia University, St. Paul did so (.120 percentage) on Sept. 30, 2016. In addition, the 40 errors committed by UMD was the most since Grand Valley State University forced 41 mistakes back on Sept. 3, 2005. MSUM (9-13, 4-10 NSIC) won its first match over UMD since 2010, also in five sets, and ended its nine-match losing streak to the Bulldogs.

Sophomore middle blocker Abby Thor notched six kills to guide UMD to a 25-21 first set victory. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 4-3 lead and carried it all the way to 21-21 before the Dragons tied it. Junior outside hitter Makenzie Morgen had the final two UMD kills in-between a pair of MSUM errors as the Bulldogs outhit the Dragons .343 to .276. MSUM settled down and relied on its 17th nationally-ranked block. The Dragons sent back five second-set attacks and led nearly wire-to-wire. UMD briefly tied it at 12 before falling 25-19. The Bulldogs exploded after the intermission and dominated the third frame, hitting a match-high .424 on 14 kills and no errors. The Dragons had no answer on offense to keep up and quickly lost the set 25-8. Freshman outside hitter Kate Berg caught fire and erupted it eight kills in that stanza. The Bulldogs firepower got extinguished in the final two sets.  With each team tangled at eight, MSUM built a lead then stacked it up to as high as six later. The Dragons used six blocks in the set to take the fourth 25-20. The five and final frame had each team trading the lead twice and tied on eight other occasions. No team gained a two point advantage until Kelly blasted a kill to give UMD a 11-9 lead. However, back-to-back blocks tied it and the Dragons used another key block in the closing moments to put the game out of reach.

Kelly and Berg led the Bulldogs with 16 kills. MSUM's Kaylyn Jenkins had 12 kills while also chipping in seven blocks, three solo. Kylie Kanwischer registered eight blocks and Monica Vega had a match-high 31 digs for the Dragons. Meanwhile, five UMD players compiled double-digit dig efforts as they actually strangled the MSUM attack to a lower hitting percentage (.121). Sophomore libero Keena Seiffert posted 20 digs, which was the third time this season. Kelly tallied 18 for her second career double-double. Morgen also netted her ninth with 15 kills and 16 digs while Berg (11 digs) and sophomore setter Emily Torve (51 assists and 13 digs) each hit the double-double mark for the fourth time. Thor, who had 10 kills, as the highest Bulldog attacker at .261. UMD finished with 27 more kills.

The Bulldogs, who had their six match winning streak snapped, will look to start fresh again but it won't come easy. The ninth-ranked Northern State University awaits UMD in Aberdeen, S.D., tomorrow. The Wolves hold an identical overall and conference record to the Bulldogs. First serve of the UMD-NSU contest is slated to start at 2:00 p.m.