Not only was it a marquee matchup of two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference powerhouses but it was a showdown between two of the nation's most dominate attackers Friday night. Junior right side hitter Sarah Kelly outduelled Southwest Minnesota State University's Taylor Reiss as the University of Minnesota Duluth rolled over the Mustangs in four sets (20-25, 25-21, 25-14, 25-14) in front of a crowd of 1,082 spectators inside a roaring Romano Gymnasium. Kelly blasted a career-high 23 kills, the most by a Bulldog this season. The Chaska, Minn. native saved her most effective hitting performance for tonight, hitting a robust .613 on 31 attempts. Kelly had eight kills in the first set and was a perfect 5-for-5 in the fourth. Reiss notched 19 kills on a match-high 57 swings for SMSU. The No. 9 Bulldogs kept Reiss, the conference leader in kills per set, in check throughout the night as she hit a mere .193.

UMD (21-4, 14-3 NSIC) avenged its three-set sweep to the Mustangs (22-3, 14-3 NSIC) in Marshall, Minn. earlier this season. The Bulldogs improved to 5-2 against top-25 competition.

SMSU corralled the first set 25-20 as it pushed the UMD attack to 10 errors and a .089 hitting clip in the frame. That set was an anomaly as the Bulldogs cracked above the .500-mark every set afterwards including a dazzling .520 attack percentage in the fourth. The Mustangs hit .438 in the second set then was shut down the final last stanzas. UMD held them to .125 and .000 in the third and the fourth sets and SMSU head coach Terry Culhane seem to secede in the fourth set as his club trailed by more than seven points through much of the fourth and didn't bother to call his last time out to stop the surging Bulldogs. For the match, UMD exploded for .362 while the Mustangs hit .227.

The turning point came in the second with the match tied at 15 on Kelly's 10th kill thus far. Sophomore outside hitter Hanna Meyer thumped the next kill on a free ball to give the Bulldogs the lead then sophomore setter Emily Torve dumped the ball over for another point and SMSU called time out. From there, UMD wouldn't surrender the lead that changed hands five different times. The Bulldogs took the set then sent the Mustangs back to the stable as they rushed past the second-ranked club.

Freshman outside hitter Kate Berg was the only other UMD player with double-digit kills adding 13. Senior middle blocker Allison Olley, Meyer and sophomore middle blocker Abby Thor all hit above .300 for the match as Torve dished out 53 assists, the most by her in a four-set match. Keena Seiffert had 23 digs, her second highest output, and senior defensive specialist Madison Kelly contributed with 11 digs. Thor also had one solo block and eight block assists.

Aside from Reiss, Brooke Borchardt had 13 kills on .423. Megan Larson had 35 assists and Kaylee Burmeister had 12 digs to lead the Mustangs.

The Bulldogs are back in action tomorrow as they square off against the University of Sioux Falls on Senior Day at Romano. Olley, Madison and Sarah Heesacker will be suiting up for last time in the regular season at home. First serve against the Cougars, who lost in five sets to St. Cloud State University tonight, is set to begin at 4:00 p.m.