Friday night's match proved to be a historic one for the Bulldogs. Head Coach Jim Boos became just the 15^th Division II coach to surpass the 500-win mark for his career. Boos, who is in his 20^th season at UMD, has a career record of 500-98 (.836)
 
Sioux Falls, South Dakota – The UMD Bulldogs traveled to face off against the Sioux Falls Cougars. After dropping two of the first three sets, the Bulldogs were able to grind it out and comeback to win the match in five sets 3-2 (16-25, 28-26, 12-25, 25-24, 15-13).
 
The first set saw a highly competitive begin to it. Teams would trade points and battle it out to a 11-12 Cougars advantage. From there, the Cougars took control. Sioux Falls would score 7 straight points to take a 20-13 lead. They would not stop there; they would continue the dominating set and close out the Cougars 16-25.
 
The second set would once again be a highly competitive set. The largest lead of the entire set was only 3 points (both teams led by 3 at one point). Teams would battle all set. After a service ace by Kate Berg, the Bulldogs would take a 21-19 lead. The Cougars would storm back and force a 24-24 tie. After teams trade a point to a 26-26 tie, the Bulldogs would be able to close out the Cougars for a 28-26 set win.
 
The third set would feature two different halves of the set. In the first half, teams were competitive once again and would trade points up to an 8-8 tie. From there however, the Cougars would take over. They would go on to score 14 of the next 17 points to take a commanding 22-11 lead. The Cougars would be too much for the Bulldogs in this match as they would win the third set convincingly 12-25.
 
In a must win set for the Bulldogs, they would once again be in a situation where they had to grind out a match. Teams would once again continue to trade points as neither team could take command of the set. Teams would battle to a 19-19 tie, where they Bulldogs would go to win two straight points for a 21-19 lead. The teams would once again trade points and the Cougars would tie it up at 23-23. The Bulldogs would be able to close out a crucial set to win 25-23.
 
In the pivotal fifth set, the Cougars would jump out to a 8-4 lead. The Bulldogs would not roll over however, as they would grind back to a 12-12 tie. After trading a point for each team, the Bulldogs would take a 14-13 lead. Thanks to a kill from Grace Post, the Bulldogs were able to complete the comeback and win the set 15-13, winning the match 3-2. The Bulldogs were led by Cianna Selbitschka who had 5 kills in the fifth set.
 
Head Coach Jim Boos had this to say about his team; "After the third set, I sat them down and told them to forget about what happened in the third set. I told them to just focus on the next two sets." Coach Boos knows the amount of adversity the team has gone through to start the team, and to see them grind out a five-set win against a good NSIC team, shows the kind of grit the team has. Coach Boos hopes the team can build on this and continue to get better every point, every set, and every day.
 
The Bulldogs were led by fifth year Kate Berg who had 17 kills. Sophomore Cianna Selbitschka also added 17 kills on the night. Redshirt Junior Madison Gordon added 53 assists on the night. Kate Berg added 18 digs on the night while Madison Gordon and Senior Sydney Lanoue added 15 digs. Kate Berg, Cianna Selbitschka and Madison Gordon all had double-doubles on the night.
 
The Cougars were led by Averey Yaksich who had 24 kills. Krista Goerger added 54 assists and Tiarose Nagami added 26 digs.
 
WHOS NEXT:
The Bulldogs will be on the road again as they visit #5 Southwest Minnesota State on September 25^th at 2:00 PM.