HOUGHTON, Mich. -- The No. 7 ranked University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs faced University of Wisconsin-Parkside in their early game of the day, winning the match 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-14, 25-18).

The Bulldogs started slow losing the first set 22-25 with a hit percentage of just .070 and accumulated 10 errors on the set. The Bulldogs would turn in around throughout the rest of the match as they would win the next three sets to take the match.
 
The Bulldogs continued to struggle in the beginning of the 2nd set as they found themselves down 3-7. Head Coach Jim Boos called a timeout to calm the team down and refocus. Coach Boos was not pleased with the number of mistakes that were being made and needed the team to play better volleyball.
 
The Bulldogs would come out of that timeout and score 6 of the next 8 points to give them the lead. Both teams would then trade points until Wisconsin-Parkside calls a timeout with the score 18-16 in the Bulldogs favor. The Bulldogs dominated coming out of the timeout and would go on a 7-1 run to win the set.

After a back and forth beginning to the 3^rd set, the Bulldogs tied the score 9-9. From there, the Bulldogs took control of the set and powered through Wisconsin-Parkside for a 25-14 3^rd set victory.
 
In the 4^th set, the Bulldogs took an early 3-2 lead and didn't look back. The Bulldogs were able to maintain the lead for the rest of the set. Wisconsin-Parkside had no answer for the Bulldogs in the 4^th set as they were able to win the set 25-18, winning the match 3-1.  
 
Coach Jim Boos said what propelled them to a win was the improvement from their serves, from Emma Kujawa and Cianna Selbitschka. Avoiding serving errors and the placements of the serves helped the Bulldogs.

Sophomore Cianna Selbitschka led the team in total kills with 12 and recorded her first career double-double with 15 digs as well. Senior Summer Ballard added 10 kills of her own, while both Junior Grace Post and Sophomore Grace Daak added 8 kills each. Redshirt-Junior Madison Gordon once again led the team with 33 assists on the day. Senior libero Sydney Lanoue added 22 digs on the day to lead the Bulldogs. 

To lead the Rangers, Rachel Hedman and Jessica Pappas lead the team with 10 kills each. Ellie Adams led the Rangers with 16 assists and Kaylee Kuecker lead the team with 14 digs.
 
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In the second match of the day, the No. 7 Bulldogs beat Lake Superior State 3-0 (25-17, 25-7, 25-23) to move to 2-1 on the season.
 
The Bulldogs used the momentum from the morning game to jump out to a 14-9 lead on the Lakers. The Lakers would try to battle back ang got it to 15-13 in favor of the Bulldogs, but the Bulldogs would then pull away and shut down the Lakers attempt at a comeback to win the set 25-17.
 
After teams traded points to begin the 2^nd set, the Bulldogs took control of the set. The Bulldogs would score 18 of 19 points to take a commanding 20-5 lead over the Lakers. The Lakers would continue to have no answer for the Bulldogs as UMD would win the set 25-7.
 
In the 3^rd set teams would once again trade points to start the set. After the Lakers would tie the set at 6-6, the Bulldogs would begin to take control. The Bulldogs would build a 18-11 lead. But the Lakers would not quit. The Lakers mounted a comeback and got within 3 points, to trail 22-19. After two quick Bulldog points, the Lakers would go to score 4 straight points to bring the set to a 24-23 score in favor of the Bulldogs. After a timeout by coach Jim Boos, the Bulldogs were able to end the Lakers comeback attempt and close out the Lakers to win the set 25-23 and win the match 3-0.
 
When asked about the game, Coach Boos was again pleased with how his team served the ball. With Lake Superior State's fast paced offense, the placement of the serves allowed them to throw the Lakers off their game slightly, which in turn helped the Bulldogs offense.  
 
Sophomore Cianna Selbitschka lead the Bulldogs with 15 kills. The 5^th year All-American Kate Berg had her best performance of the young season by adding 15 kills and 9 digs. Redshirt-Junior Madison Gordon would add a career best 43 assists.
 
For the Lakers, Camdyn Odykirk would lead with 6 kills. Halle Grulke would add 19 assists for the Lakers, which was the most on the team.
 
NEXT UP
The Bulldogs will wrap up action in the Keweenaw Classic tomorrow as they will face Northern Michigan University tomorrow at 1:30 PM.