Duluth, Minn.- The #6 UMD volleyball team did enough to win in straight sets against Upper Iowa on Saturday despite a strong, consistent effort from the Peacocks. After sweeping the weekend, the Bulldogs are now 18-1 overall and 10-1 in conference play. Across six home matches, the Bulldogs have dropped just three total sets, all of those coming in their single home loss against #1 Wayne State. 

It became clear quickly in the first set that the Peacocks had not traveled to Romano to play around as they took the match's first decent lead at a score of 5-2. UMD then went on a 5-2 run of their own to knot things up at 7. From there, the match was a total toss up, the Bulldogs and Peacocks trading blows back and forth until the score was 18-18. Between these two tied scores were five more instances of the score being dead-even. Unfortunately for the Peacocks, 18 was their unlucky number- they'd get stuck on it a little too long. The Bulldogs rattled off a 5-0 run to take a strong 23-18 grip over the opening frame. A Peacock timeout at 21-18 hadn't been enough to shift the tide. Duluth would go on to call a timeout of their own at 23-20 to right the ship and make sure they closed things out. Close things out they did, taking the set 25-21. Leading the Bulldogs offensively was Grace Daak, who had seven kills on an impressive .500 hitting percentage. Madison Gordon had 14 assists.

If the Bulldogs thought they had silenced the Peacocks for the evening, they were mistaken. This would be seen all-too clearly in the second set. Upper Iowa jumped out to an early 7-4 lead, causing UMD to burn a quick timeout. This didn't do much to cool down the Peacocks, as they racked up three more points out of the break to take a huge 10-4 lead. If the Bulldogs wanted to charge back into this second frame, they'd need to battle hard- and maybe call upon some home court magic. UMD saw both factors in action during a 5-1 run that left the score at just 11-9 Upper Iowa. Both Cianna Selbitschka and Hope Schjenken recorded two kills in this stretch. Just as quickly as the Bulldogs had clawed themselves to within striking distance, the Peacocks pushed back, reestablishing a four-point cushion at a score of 13-9. They'd maintain a marginal lead until a score of 17-14. Here, the Bulldogs went on a biblical 9-0 run to take a commanding 23-17 lead in this ever-so-crucial set. During this huge UMD rally, Upper Iowa used up both of their timeouts. As is the old saying, nothing is ever over until it's over- that's something the Peacocks were determined to showcase here with a 5-1 run to bring themselves back to within two at 24-22 UMD. Upper Iowa may not have countered with a run of equal points, but given the spot they were in, it was an effort that can be considered equally as impressive. Unfortunately for the Peacocks, the party ended there- a service error ended their comeback bid and gave the Bulldogs both a 25-22 set victory and a 2-0 lead in the match. Samantha Paulsen had the team-lead in kills this set with five on a strong hitting percentage of .400. Gordon had 11 assists. Defensively, the Bulldogs had eight total block assists, with Schjenken recording four of those herself. Kaylyn Madison had a team-high eight digs.

The importance of the Bulldogs' ability to survive a late pushback from the Peacocks in the second set to avoid entering set three knotted up at ones became evident right away in the third frame. In identical fashion to that second set, Upper Iowa established a quick 7-4 lead, again forcing a UMD timeout. The Peacocks didn't appear to be rattled by coming up short earlier. Unfortunately for them, the only difference between this final frame and the one before it would be the time it took the Bulldogs to get hot. There would be no late three-point lead for Upper Iowa this time around- when the 31st point was registered here, the score was 20-11 UMD. All the Bulldogs had to do from there on out was level with the Peacocks, and that's exactly what they did, exchanging blows on a 5-5 run and riding off the back of their massive lead to win the set 25-16 and take the match 3-0. This closing set saw a tie for the Bulldog team-high in kills, with Selbitschka and familiar-face Paulsen each recording four. Gordon had 12 assists. 

Given her performances in the final two sets, it was little surprise to see Paulsen had led the way for the Bulldogs offensively by the time the curtain fell on the match. Paulsen had a team-high 11 kills on a .348 hitting percentage for the day. Gordon led all Bulldogs with 37 assists. On the defensive side of things, Sydney Lanoue had 19 digs while Schjenken led the team in blocks with five block assists.. 

The Peacocks were led offensively by Zoe Semelroth's 11 kills (on an eyebrow-raising .429 hitting percentage) and Nicole Pozorski's 31 assists. Defensively, Sarah Stevelinck led the way in digs with 12. Carlee Dove was the Peacocks' biggest impact blocker with five block assists.

Even though the stat sheets shows a 3-0 victory for the Bulldogs, it was one they had to work for every step of the way. UMD head coach Jim Boos applauded Upper Iowa's effort on Saturday, but perhaps his biggest compliment was that that kind of performance was no shocker.

"There was nothing there that surprised us," Boos said. "Upper Iowa just makes you grind. They're so scrappy. They just do not let the ball land clean, keep bringing it back over... That was every bit of the match that I expected going into today after watching them play St. Cloud last night- they played a very similar match there. They just make you play very hard, and I give (Peacock head coach Aaron Nelson) a lot of credit for how hard he gets them to play and the challenge that that presents, but I'm really proud of our team to be able to finish out the weekend."

Especially on a night like Saturday, how were the Bulldogs able to rise to the occasion? Of course, Boos points to opponent-specific prep that his team underwent in the lead-up to the match, but he also highlighted a quality that's been consistent in this squad since the very beginning of the year. 

"Going in, we talked about having to stay aggressive, be in attack mode, challenge them with serving so they can't be comfortable and set up the middle swings that they want to do..." Boos said. "I think the biggest thing, and we've done it before with other teams in other matches, I thought we grinded well as well. We didn't panic when we got into a deficit position in the early parts of the sets, and we continued to make adjustments to what we needed to do better, and we made some plays in some key moments to make the comebacks and to finish it off."

The kind of homecoming the Bulldogs enjoyed this weekend after a slog of road tests this past week and some change was much-needed, but there are always things that can be improved upon. Familiar problems still made themselves known. Even still, wins are wins, and the sweeps are even sweeter. Boos understands what a home stand like this demonstrates about his squad. 

"The comforts of home should be something that you can rely on to help build you up and get you playing at a high level," Boos said. "I thought yesterday we were super sharp offensively and really dictated a lot of how that match went. I thought today was much more of a grind. I don't think we were as sharp as we were, I don't think the energy was quite as good as it was on Friday night, and that's kind of been the issue on most weekends. It's hard. Saturdays are tough after Friday, but I think the fact that we were able to get out of here in 3-0s both times against two quality opponents says a lot about where this team has gotten and grown and matured. Proud of their efforts."