The University of Minnesota Duluth continued to fire on all cylinders tonight in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action as it powered past St. Cloud State University in straight sets in front of a crowd of 579 fans at Romano Gymnasium. Displaying the nation's No. 1 attack, the sixth-ranked Bulldogs rifled off a .344 hitting percentage in rout to their seven consecutive sweep Tuesday evening. UMD has hit above the .300-mark six times this season. UMD (10-1, 3-0 NSIC) has won the last 33 matchups dating back to 1998. Head
Jim Boos remains undefeated (28-0) against the Huskies (9-3, 2-1 NSIC).
It was a coming party for true freshman
Kate Berg. Teams started to adjust to Berg after she busted into the scene early. The Medina, Minn., native adapted to the defensive scheme tonight as she slammed down a career-high 17 kills. Junior right side hitter
Sarah Kelly ripped 12 kills on 18 attempts, good for a .556 attacking clip. Kelly is a primary reason why UMD leads the land in kills per set (15.84) and hitting percentage (.341) coming into the match. Junior outside hitter
Makenzie Morgen registered another double-double on 12 kills and 10 digs, doing so for the fifth time. Sophomore
Emily Torve joined the dual double-digit tally club compiling game-highs in assists (43) and digs (12). Sophomore middle blocker
Abby Thor joined in on five of the club's nine blocks. The defense allowed 20 kills as SCSU hit .048 for the contest -- a Bulldog season best.
The Bulldogs overpowered the Huskies from the opening serve. UMD attacked four-for-seven to begin the first and a perfect four-for-four the next frame to jump out to 8-0 starts. St. Cloud State had little resistance as it only caused four errors before the intermission. The Huskies never threaten in those sets as the Bulldogs sideout rate hit 95 percent. In the finale, SCSU fixed the errors coming out of the break and held a 11-9 lead. Two straight blocks by Kelly and Thor turned the tide as UMD grabbed the lead and finished the final 19 points with only two errors.
UMD is back home later this weekend as they take on a pair of ranked opponents for the first time all season. No. 18 Wayne State College visits Romano first on Friday at 6:00 p.m. Twelfth-ranked Augustana University makes its first of two meeting against UMD Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
