Junior outside hitter Hanna Meyer received a perfect set from junior setter Emily Torve and Meyer delivered the knockout blow to Wayne State College as the University of Minnesota Duluth silenced the Wildcats in three sets (25-14, 25-13, 25-18) inside Romano Gymnasium on Saturday. The Bulldogs won their Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference leading sixth straight match to improve to 14-3 and 8-1 in the conference. Wayne State dropped to 5-4 in the Northern Sun and 14-4 overall. 

After hitting .473 the previous night, the Wildcats needed to slow down the red-hot UMD offense. The plan failed as the Bulldogs came out hitting as high as .769 in the opening frame and finished the set with a .667 attack percentage as it racked up 19 kills on one error. While Wayne State was focusing on stopping other UMD attacking options, sophomore outside hitter Kate Berg dominated her matchup. Berg had eight kills in the opening set and a match-high 15 kills for the contest.

The Bulldogs, which have won 17 straight matches at home, carried that momentum through the last two sets and capped off the night hitting .387. Neither Augustana nor Wayne State could get UMD out of system in either match as the Bulldogs hit .429 on the weekend and averaged a robust 16.5 kills per set. UMD has been on a different level offensively with the services of their setter. Torve, the reigning NSIC Setter of the Week, kept the attack balanced again tonight with 43 assists to five different attackers. 

Middle blocker Abby Thor went off again for 12 kills and five blocks. Thor had a monster weekend hitting an absurd .600 from the court as she collected 4.00 kills per set and 1.67 blocks per set.  

Meyer tallied eight kills as she was one of three Bulldogs to register more kills than any other Wildcat. Alyssa Ballenger lead the way for Wayne State with seven kills.

The Wildcats battled hard to try to extend the match. Wayne State had six of its seven blocks in the last set as the top-blocking NSIC club attempted to squeeze out the oncoming attack. UMD tighten its grip at the net with four blocks -- with Thor contributing on each denial -- of its own. From there the Bulldogs regroup and mounted a counter attack. UMD went on a 9-0 run to flip a 13-16 deficit to a 21-16 lead. The Bulldogs used that nine-point spark to finish the set on a 13-2 advantage to seize the set and the match.

UMD stays home for once more to cap off its five-match home stand with a battle against No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul on Wednesday, Oct. 3.