Sometimes you need a little luck, sometimes you need an impact player to take over. Tonight, the University of Minnesota Duluth got both as it defeated Winona State University in a five-set cliffhanger in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference quarterfinal match held at Romano Gymnasium. Senior middle blocker Allison Olley stole the decisive fifth-set lead from the Warriors on momentum-swinging, back-to-back double blocks with freshman outside hitter Kate Berg late in the fifth frame.

The Bulldogs, who were 216-1 when leading after two sets, lost the third and fourth sets and needed to crawl back from an 11-8 deficit in the fifth. Olley and Berg notched kills, slicing it to 11-10 before the Warriors called timeout. Olley made, what might be her final shining moment at home, impeccable blocks to send the pack crowd of 877 into a raucous. After trading points, sophomore libero Keena Seiffert made two clutch service aces to effectively end to Winona State's hard-fought comeback bid Wednesday night. Seiffert's last ace bounced off the net and tip-toed the top netting before spinning just over to close out the match and send UMD off to St. Paul on Saturday.

"Our senior middle blocker Allison Olley decided it was time to not be done, and had a couple huge blocks there at that point in time," said UMD Head Coach Jim Boos. "I think momentum changed, the energy changed, and even at the end there with a couple service aces. Keena had a rough night serving. So for her to get those back-to-back aces at the end what a huge way to finish it off. Super excited to get that win."

UMD (24-5 overall) captured its 11th win at home and gave the Warriors their first road loss of the season after it checked off 10 in-a-row. The Bulldogs are now 7-3 against ranked opponents and collected its ninth tournament win and is 5-1 in the NSIC quarterfinals. Similar to the previous meeting, UMD needed to come back from 10-6 in the final stanza to stun Winona State.

It was a balanced attack for the No. 1 offense in the nation. Junior right side hitter Sarah Kelly finished with a team-high 16 kills. Olley and Berg each had 15 and junior outside hitter Makenzie Morgen slammed down 14. Morgen, who compiled career-highs in kills and digs last Saturday, earned her 10th double-double of the season, totaling a club-high 16 digs.  Sophomore setter Emily Torve helped dissect the Warrior defense, tallying 54 assists and directed the offense to a .296 attack percentage. UMD hit .406 in the first then a match-high .583 in the second. The Warriors wrapped up hitting a solid .265 but made seven more attack errors. Maria Fruechte led WSU with a match-high 19 kills.

UMD was up against a tall task as Winona State came into the night winning its last seven, four against top-25 competition, and hit above .400 in its previous three matches. They answered the call taking the first two sets 25-19 and 25-17. The Bulldogs could have wrapped up the match in the third but weren't able to convert on two match points. The Warriors blasted out to a 18-9 lead in the fourth before UMD used a small rally late to make it interesting and at least gain traction for the fifth.

"Sets three, four, and five were absolute dogfights," said Boos. "You gotta credit Winona; they didn't quit. They forced us into a couple mistakes and then really started to get confident and it rolled all the way through to 11-8 in the fifth set. I felt like they really had the match at hand. I really think what helped us a ton was the little run we made in set four when we were down big and we got it back to within four or five points, and I think that was enough of a momentum change to build some confidence back up in us."

The Bulldogs battle top-seeded and top-ranked Concordia University, St. Paul Nov. 18 at 2:30 p.m. at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul. The winner of the semifinal match will take on the winner of Augustana University and Southwest Minnesota State University on Sunday.