Duluth, Minn.- The #4 UMD volleyball team beat Minnesota Crookston 3-0 on Thursday in a match where hardly anything could go wrong for the Bulldogs. In fact, even for a UMD squad that's now 20-2, it's almost jarring just how much went right.

Within moments of the match starting, the score was 8-1 Bulldogs. Four of those points came off of service aces, two from Mary Satori and another pair from Kaylyn Madison. Madison's were back-to-back and brought the score to that 8-1 mark, forcing a timeout out of the Golden Eagles. That was about all she wrote for Crookston in this set. Two more UMD points out of the break, including yet another ace from Madison, left the score at 10-1. As a team, you never want to let your foot ease off of the gas; with a nine-point lead, though, you can sometimes afford to. That's how it worked out for the Bulldogs in the rest of this set. UMD still outscored the Golden Eagles- just at a less accelerated pace. The Bulldogs closed things out on a 15-11 run to take set one 25-12 and head into the second frame with bundles of confidence. Paulsen was a big offensive standout for UMD early, ending the first set with four kills on a whopping .800 hitting percentage. Madison Gordon had 11 assists to lead the team.

Despite the rocky start, the Golden Eagles came into the second set flying with a stronger pace. In fact, it was Crookston that stood tall with an early 3-0 lead in the frame. A Paulsen kill cracked the door for the Bulldogs to start making up ground, and two more points to knot the score up at 3-3 swung that door wide open. From the moment UMD retied the set until the teams were switching sides for set three, the Bulldogs went on a 22-12 run. Along the way, thirteen different UMD players saw the court. Among them all, It was Lanoue that stood tall as the offensive leader, netting six kills on a .800+ hitting percentage of her own at .857. Gordon had a team-high 10 assists. 

The third set felt much more similar to the first than the second. The Bulldogs again jumped out to an early 10-1 lead, this time on the back of a proper 10-0 run that momentarily teased the idea of a shutout set. Perhaps this eluded the Bulldogs on this day, but hardly anything else did- including a third set victory. From 10-1 onwards, UMD was again able to put things into cruise control, outscoring the Golden Eagles 15-10 to take the set at 25-11. The only difference between this set and the opening frame of the match was that the Bulldogs continued to cycle several players in and out like they had in set two. Once again, thirteen different UMD players saw action. This time around, Lanoue shared top-scoring duties with Grace Daak, each of them ending the set with four kills. Gordon had eight assists.

By the end of the match, Lanoue had secured the spot as the team's strongest attacker with 13 kills on a season-high .611 hitting percentage. Gordon had 29 assists. Madison had a team-leading 21 digs. Daak and Paulsen had four block assists to lead the team. 

Crookston was led by Audrey Cariveau's eight kills and Natalie Koke's 14 assists. Defensively, Bailey Schaefer and Layne Whaley tied for the team-high in digs with 10. Mara Weisensel paired two solo blocks with a block assist. 

All these runs, all these team-leaders, there's no doubt that it's all important. The true story of Thursday's match, though, what glued things together both technically and narratively, could be found in the part the team's role players played it making it all happen. For a team operating without its highest scorer in Cianna Selbitschka for the first time all season, it had to be a next-woman-up mentality from these Bulldogs. That's exactly what they delivered. 

Take Grace Post, for example. Before Thursday, the senior outside hitter had seen action in 13 sets across nine matches this season. Post had a three-set, six-kill outing against Ashland under her belt from September 2, but her numbers had steadied to a kill or two per outing since then. This was not the case against Crookston- not only did Post register four kills to notch her second best offensive performance of the year, but she did it on a hitting percentage of .800, far-and-away her highest efficiency clip this season.

Next up is Kylie Broten. The freshman middle blocker had seen action in just one other match before Thursday, but it had sure been a memorable one. In that fateful contest against Minot State on September 9, Broten recorded her first ever collegiate kill- then her second- then her third. Broten must live by the idea that good things come in threes, because in her second opportunity on the court this year against Crookston, she again racked up three kills. This time, all she needed was one set. 

Then there's a player like Satori. A freshman, Satori has been a staple of a server for UMD off of the bench this season, seeing action in 75 sets and parts of every match this year. On Thursday, Satori played her role as well as she has in her entire tenure as a Bulldog. She recorded four service aces against Crookston, a new career best. If you're going to set one milestone, why not set one more- Satori also notched a collegiate-level-high 11 digs. 

Got time for a few more freshman firsts? Makenzie Roettger played in just her second match this season on Thursday. In it, she recorded not only her first block but also her first kill- one that closed out the third set and sealed the sweep for the Bulldogs in Romano. Could have gone worse. 

In a night of boisterous performances from the bench, there was perhaps no effort more unavoidable than that of Payton Addink. 

Addink, a sophomore outside hitter, had played in just two matches this season leading up to Thursday's contest. In her first outing against Drury in the season-opener, she'd matched the output of her entire freshman year in just two sets with three kills. Against Crookston, Addink was determined to outdo herself once again- after-all, what better birthday gift could there be? 

Addink didn't just eclipse her previous best of three kills- she more than doubled it. Her seven tallies across three sets of action didn't just come through some kind of spray-and-pray tactic, either. She recorded these kills on a steady .333 hitting percentage, a season-high. 

It wasn't lost on Addink heading into the night just how big of an ask there would be from players like herself to rise to the occasion of filling the shoes of a 294 kill-getter by-committee. Challenge accepted, and challenge completed. Addink's comments after the match help to shed some light on how it was all possible- this is a bunch that is strong in its bond with one another, from the players all the way up to the coaching staff. When you have something like that, adversity becomes a little less daunting. 

"I think it's a big role to come into," Addink said. "I just love the team so much, and I think having them support me allows me to play well in these situations. (The coaches) and the feedback that they give me has helped me so much as a player."


BITS FROM BOOS:
Speaking of coaches, how did UMD head coach Jim Boos feel after a performance like this? It's not too hard to guess. It's more than just being happy with a big win accompanied with big performances all across the board, though. It's that Boos can see that his team is really starting to come into its own.

Just the fact that Boos had players available to begin with in a situation like this is a positive point of change to him compared to last season.

"I think it's the thing we struggled with last year when we were a little thinner and we were dealing with some injuries..." Boos said. "We just didn't have the depth to be able to do what we wanted to do, and it really changed how we had to play. Really tonight, it didn't really matter who we put where- how we were trying to execute and what we were trying to do didn't change, and the team took care of business that way."

As Boos alluded to, when those rotational pieces are making a big impact and able to fit right within the team's usual system, that sure is a nice bonus.

For someone like Satori, it might appear to be business as usual, but Boos still gave her a lot of credit for a huge performance on Thursday. 

"(Satori's) done that for us several times this year..." Boos said. "I thought between her serving and her back row play, she had an incredibly good night. Those aren't the positions that necessarily sparkle and shine to the casual observer, but as you watch your team perform, that kind of stuff is what makes it critically important for you to succeed."

Sprinkled all across the stat sheet were players that had the types of performances that will establish their foundations to begin with. 

This certainly wasn't lost on Boos- it would've been pretty difficult for that to have been the case. Down the line, Boos saw nothing but quintessential freshmen performances.

"For all of them, getting in there and getting those opportunities and seeing them starting to make some positive change from where we were a month ago when some of those freshmen got their first opportunity in a live watch to where they are now, that's what we're looking for: growth and improvement," Boos said. "They're making it, and it makes them that little bit more ready to do it again the next time they're called on."