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THE OPENING SERVE: Another successful season winds down for the University of Minnesota Duluth this weekend as the No. 6 Bulldogs engage in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference road matches to put the stops to the 2017 season. UMD faces Augustana University Friday night at 6:00 p.m. and Wayne State College Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.

SCOUTING REPORT ON AUGUSTANA: The Vikings locked up their 12th and 13th sweeps last weekend and clinched a NSIC playoff spot. Augustana is fighting for its NCAA livelihood as its ranked 10th in the regional ranking. Courtney Place leads the team in kills (3.84 kills/set) which is 44th in the nation. She recorded seven straight matches with at least 10 kills before it being snapped last time out. Place has it double-digit kills 24 times this season including 17 against the Bulldogs on Sept. 23. Ashley Wilson is been an effective middle blocker, totaling a .327 hitting percentage. Tahlyr Banks is second in the NSIC with 5.26 digs/set and has recorded double-digit digs in all but one game this season. She gathered a season-high 40 digs vs. Upper Iowa.

SCOUTING REPORT ON WAYNE STATE: The Wildcats have won its last three games all on the road and also have clinched a NSIC playoff spot. WSC gets out to start starts winning 21 of its 28 first sets. The trio of Erin Gross (3.14 kills/set), Jaci Brahmer (2.49) and Katie Stephens (2.36) have offensively picked up the pace the last six games as they all have produced better numbers than their season averages during that stretch. Stephens compiled two double-doubles as of late and as posted 3.40 kills/set and 3.80 digs/set last week. The Wildcats back the 22nd best block in the country behind Gross, Stephens and Tarrin Baller (1.31 blocks/set) and held opposing teams to a combined .099 hit percentage in the last three games.

THE SERIES: UMD leads the series over Augustana 32-9 in 41 all-time matchups and have defeated the Vikings 10 of the last 12. The Bulldogs captured a four-set victory earlier this season at home.
UMD has an 27-8 advantage over Wayne State and has disposed the Wildcats 11 of the past 13 meetings.  The Bulldogs capped off a win over WSC in four set at Romano earlier this year.

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and their opponents this weekend stack up in the NSIC standings, in the AVCA poll and the NCAA Central Region Rankings.
TEAM        NSIC        AVCA        NCAA
UMD         T-2nd          6th             5th
Augie        T-6th         18th            10th
WSC         T-6th         22nd            NR

THE BROADCAST: The matches this weekend will be carried live through a video stream, in addition to live stats capabilities, and is available for free at:
portal.stretchinternet.com/umd

LAST SIDE OUT: The Bulldogs blitzed past No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State and the University of Sioux Falls to wrap up a 10-0 regular season home schedule. 
UMD dropped the first set but rallied with three straight sets of hitting at least .500 to take out the Mustangs in four sets last Friday. Sarah Kelly corralled a career-high 23 kills on a .613 hitting percentage. Keena Seiffert picked up 24 digs and Abby Thor denied nine SMSU attacks.
The Bulldogs dispatched the first two sets against the Cougars including a 25-13 second-set thumping hitting .433. USF nipped the sweep taking the third and nearly had the fourth until UMD fought back. Kate Berg  blasted a career best 18 kills in the contest while Kelly added 20. Kelly Madison contributed with 12 digs. Emily Torve whipped up 98 assists in the two games.

NSIC PLAYOFF PICTURE: UMD clinched a spot into the NSIC Tournament and is one victory or a Winona State lost from seizing a home playoff match in the first round. The Bulldogs have an outside chance at gaining a share of their 24th NSIC title with two Concordia St. Paul losses.

FARING AGAINST THE BEST: Against ranked opponents, UMD is 5-2 with its two losses coming against SMSU and Northern State. The Bulldogs have knocked off Concordia-St Paul, Augustana, Wayne State and Winona State and SMSU.

ALL BUT GAME OVER: UMD is 18-0 this season when it leads 2-0 going into the intermission. Since the change to 25-point sets in 2008, the Bulldogs are 216-1. 

EXTRA, EXTRA!: UMD is 3-2 in sets where games need extra points to determine the winner. SCSU was the latest victim has it lost the third set 26-24.

WEEKLY HONORS: Four Bulldogs (Allison Olley, Emily Torve, Sarah Kelly and Abby Thor) have been recognized by the NSIC, garnering accolades from each available award. Kelly and Torve each collected their second honors last Monday.
Player of the Week Honors
Oct. 9- Allison Olley Offense PoW
Oct. 9- Emily Torve Setter PoW
Oct. 16- Sarah Kelly Offensive PoW
Oct. 23- Abby Thor Defensive PoW
Nov. 6- Sarah Kelly (2) Offense PoW
Nov. 6- Emily Torve (2) Setter PoW

ATOP THE NCAA MOUNTAIN: UMD is known year in and year out to boast some of the nation's best numbers and this year is no different as it ranks among the NCAA's best in terms of individual and team rankings.
Sophomore setter Emily Torve ranks fourth in the nation with 12.24 assists/set. She also holds the third best mark for assists in a three-set match (50) in all of Division II.
With senior setter Sarah Heesacker, UMD is tops in the nation in assists/set (14.60). Those assists numbers also have the Bulldogs sitting atop of the leader board for kills/set at an astounding 15.55 (26 points better than Concordia-St. Paul).
Senior middle blocker Allison Olley and junior Sarah Kelly have each established themselves as one of the most efficient hitters in the country. Kelly (.446) and Olley (.410) sit first and sixth, respectively, in attack percentage. Either Olley or Kelly have held the number one spot for over a month and a half. Those outstanding clips have catapulted UMD to the best hitting average in the land at .308, seven points ahead of next best Arkansas Tech (.301).

SET IT AND FORGET IT: Sophomore setter Emily Torve moved up to ninth all-time among set assists with 2,351 at UMD. Torve passed Shelia Brown's (1985-86) mark of 2,019 with her 60-assist effort versus Winona State. Tammy Wermager is eighth on the UMD charts with 3,513. Torve hit 1,000 assists for a second consecutive season last Friday vs. SMSU.

RIGHT SIDE AND CONQUER: Junior right side hitter Sarah Kelly is second among active players in DII in career hitting percentage. Her .330 clip trails only Brittany Deveaux of Bluefield State College by 16 points. Kelly hit .360 in back-to-back seasons and is more efficient this year as she has clubbed an astounding .446 while she has increased her kills per set by 73 points up to 3.72. Kelly conquered the NCAA II landscape attaining  the Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week on Oct. 17.

ONE-THOUSAND KILL CLUB WATCH: In addition, junior right side hitter Sarah Kelly is on the verge of becoming the next Bulldog attacker to eclipse the 1,000-kill milestone. The Chaska H.S. product is 105 kills away from becoming the 20th Bulldog to join the club. Sydnie Mauch was the 19th player in team history to join the prestigious club on Oct. 21, 2016 against Wayne State.

HEAD OF THE ROOKIE CLASS: Outside hitter Kate Berg has shown the tools to become a perennial threat the next three years with her play as a freshman. As the second option in the UMD attack, the native of Wayzata, Minn., leads all NSIC newcomers in a bevy of categories: kills per set (3.37), points per set (3.80), attacks per set (8.83), kills (293). Among all freshmen, she ranks ninth in the country in terms of points per set and 10th kills per set.

RETURN TO SENDER: Senior middle blocker Allison Olley is on pace to become the first Bulldog to average at least one block a set in back-to-back seasons since Alyssa Nelson accomplished that notion in 2009-10.

ACE MASTER: Junior outside hitter Makenzie Morgen has 34 aces from the service line this year. That equals the most by a Bulldog since Kate Lange had 34 in 2013. Lange also has 48 aces in 2011, the next closest single-season high mark.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE: Junior outside hitter Makenzie Morgen has racked up nine double-doubles. 
Sept. 1- Nova Southeastern 11k-12d
Sept. 8- Lake Superior State 15k-13d
Sept. 9- Wisconsin-Parkside 12k-11d
Sept. 14- Minnesota Crookston 14k-10d
Sept. 19- St. Cloud State 12k-10d
Sept. 22- Wayne State 13k-18d
Sept. 23- Augustana 14k-11d
Oct. 7- Concordia-St. Paul 19k-16d
Oct. 27- MSU-Moorhead 15k-16d

SURVEY SAYS: For roughly 15-plus years, the Bulldogs have been nationally ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association. UMD checked in as the seventh-best team to begin the season according to the preseason poll and climbed up to the No. 4 slot before slipping back a few slots to No. 6.  UMD climbed three spots after upsetting then-No. 2 SMSU. 
Rank School                             Points         Record
1        Concordia-St. Paul (40)     1192             24-2
2        California Baptist (7)          1138             24-0
3        Lewis (1)                            1064             25-2
4        Southwest Minn. State       1029            23-3
5        Nebraska-Kearney             1012             29-2
6        Minnesota Duluth              955              22-4
7        Northern State                     915              22-4
8        Western Washington            885             21-3
9        Arkansas Tech                     768             30-0
10      Palm Beach Atlantic             727             22-3

BOOS CLUES: In his 16th year at the helm of the UMD volleyball program, Jim Boos has turn the volleyball club into a perennial national contender. Boos was hired on July 24, 2002 to become the fourth coach since 1976, succeeding Pati Rolf, and has become the longest tenured volleyball coach in the Bulldogs' 41-year history.
The native of Delafield, Wis. has produced a 429-77 record and has taken his club into the NCAA tournament every year expect the 2015 season being an illuminating one despite knocking off the eventual champions Wheeling Jesuit twice in the regular season.
UMD earned its inaugural trip to the NCAA II Elite Eight in 2004 before losing to eventual champions Barry University. Boos was given the prestigious accolade of AVCA Coach of the Year. Two years later, Boos and the Bulldogs would return with another deep postseason before falling to the University of Tampa, who would be crowned National Champions.
Boos has hand-crafted numerous players that have rewritten the record books, and have retooled the expectations set forth yearly by the program. To date, 22 individuals have accumulated AVCA All-American honors since Boos arrival. Each of the past 15 years, the Bulldogs have had at least one representative selected to the all-american team. 
Before his time at UMD, Boos served as an assistant coach at UW-Oshkosh for five years (1992-98) and assistant at North Dakota State University (1998-2001).

UP NEXT: The Bulldogs will enter the NSIC Tournament as a prohibitive favorite to host a quarterfinals match at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at Romano Gymnasium.