The #9 UMD volleyball team defeated Augustana on Friday in what was one of the wilder 3-0 affairs you'll ever see. The Bulldogs will enter their biggest test of the entire season on Saturday with a 13-0 record.

Despite the sweep, the Bulldogs had a weather a storm from the Vikings all the way through the match. This reality became clear pretty quickly, the Vikings jumping out to a 5-3 lead and putting UMD in the as-of-late unfamiliar position of having to climb out of a deficit. They did this, even taking a 14-9 lead of their own, but the Vikings didn't fall down in the match and simply go away. They kept battling, and the Bulldiog lead was only three at a score of 19-16. That's when UMD decided to force the issue- they closed the set on a 7-1 run to take it 25-17. Cianna Selbitschka had seven kills on a .545 hitting percentage. Madison Gordon had 17 assists. 

The second set proved to be absolutely pivotal, and each side certainly performed accordingly. At first, it looked like the Bulldogs might just run away with it; they jumped out to an early 7-2 lead that prompted an Augustana timeout at 6-2. The Bulldogs held marginal leads until things were knotted up at 16-16. UMD eventually redeveloped a 20-17 lead, but it quickly evaporated, the Vikings tying things up at 20-20 before taking a lead in the set at 21-20 for the first time since 2-1. A Kia Kreiner service error evened things back up at 21-21 and seemed to hinder the Vikings' momentum, as the Bulldogs would go on a 4-2 run from that point onwards to close out the set at 25-23. Grace Daak led UMD with six kills while Gordon led the way in assists with 12. 

An early 4-2 lead for the Vikings in the third set showed that they weren't done fighting yet, but a subsequent 13-4 Bulldog run was a bit of a damper on this effort. The Bulldogs had a pair of big blocks in this stretch, one to make the score 8-5 and force an Augustana timeout and the other to make it 13-7. If you enjoy blocks, the rest of this set was definitely for you- UMD would notch three more en route to a 25-12 set victory. Hope Schjenken had three assisted blocks in the set by the time it ended. The team had eight in total. In light of all of this, it was a lighter set in terms of kills- Sydney Lanoue and Paulsen led the way in that category with three. Gordon had a team-leading eight assists (the kind that set up kills).  All of this capped off a 3-0 match victory for the Bulldogs. 

Selbitschka and Paulsen tied for the team-lead in kills across the entire match with 11. Gordon, consistent as can be, led the team in assists with 37. Defensively, it was a block party in Romano- the team had 16 total block assists when all was said and done. Paulsen had six of her own (one of which was a solo block) while partner-in-crime Grace Daak had five. Kaylyn Madison and Selbitschka led the way in digs with nine. 

Augustana was led by Kate Reimann's 13 kills and Avery Thorson's 32 assists. Thorson and Asche each had one block assist. Erika Bute led the Vikings with 11 digs. 

Head coach Jim Boos was happy with his team's ability to ignore the elephant of the weekend and play a tough Augustana opponent the way they themselves deserved to be played- well. 

"Knowing so much of the attention has been about what's tomorrow. With the number one team in the country coming in... we knew we had to quiet that noise and focus on the team ahead of us, because they are very very talented," Boos said. "I really liked the way we came out that first set, and then to grind through a really tough second set and still find a way to win says a lot about how we're kind of growing up a little bit here." 

Sorry to do this, coach Boos, but now that this match is over...speaking of Saturday...

#1 Wayne State was still very much #1 Wayne State Friday night when they defeated #4 St. Cloud State in straight sets. That means Saturday's matchup will be a battle of the unbeatens, a moniker that only six teams in all of Division II Women's Volleyball still hold. After Saturday, that number can't be higher than five. Wayne State would like to be part of this fab five.

Coach Boos' thoughts?

"No one's beaten them yet, so why not be the first?"