The University of Minnesota Duluth defeated the University of Mary for the season sweep with a 25-12, 25-12, 25-16 victory over the Marauders Friday night at Romano Gymnasium. In the process, the No. 4 Bulldogs clinched home playoff spot for Tuesday's opening round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament, and are one step closer to locking up a share of their league-leading 24th NSIC regular season title.

A win tomorrow would give UMD its first regular season crown since 2014 when the Bulldogs ran the table with a perfect 20-0 league record.

UMD flirted with the match attack percentage record as a team for roughly two sets. The Bulldogs, who hit .561 against the University of Minnesota Crookston back on Oct. 17, 2000, were hitting in the upper .600s as it only committed three attack errors in the opening 51 points. UMD, which hit .394, had a monster opening set on the offensive end as it totaled 18 kills on 25 attacks with one error for a .680 percentage. Instead, head coach Jim Boos opted to rotate his younger players in for a chance to accumulate reps and keep his starters fresh.

Senior middle blocker Sarah Kelly slammed home a match high 15 kills on 21 attempts. The three-time All-NSIC First Team selection hit .714 as Kelly didn't make a single attack error. Junior right side hitter Hanna Meyer, who collected her first All-Conference honor (second team) this season, went 11-for-14 with one error for a robust .714 attack percentage as well. Kelly was a perfect 7-for-7 in the opening frame and Meyer terminated her first eight swings.

Junior middle blocker Abby Thor, also a All-NSIC second team honoree, registered a match-high four blocks to go with her four kills. The Bulldogs had seven blocks for the match and held the Marauders to a .037 hitting clip on only 17 kills. UMD had 18 kills alone in the first.

Freshman outside Brooke Scheurer, freshman outside hitter Meredith Sutton and junior middle blocker Bailey Ramich each saw two sets of action. It was Scheurer's first action since the opening weekend of play in the Flagler Saints Tournament. She finished with three attacks, an assist and a pair of digs. Sutton tallied a kill on four swings and collected a dig from the back row. Sophomore middle blocker Lexy Langenfeld and freshman middle blocker Summer Ballard each got in late in third to finish the match. 

Mary's Morgen Schnabel was quiet all night as the Bulldogs took the Marauders top option away. Schnabel had one kill on 14 swings and had a negative hitting percentage. Katja Berge topped Mary with five kills. Three players gathered assists for the Marauders with no one gathering no more than six assists. UMD exceeded in keeping Mary out of system for nearly the entire match. Bittany Brusven did have four blocks including a pair of solo rejections.

The Bulldogs draw the regular season to a close tomorrow against Minot State University. First serve is a 4:00 p.m. start time at Romano Gymnasium.