Following an overall successful final preseason tournament on home turf, University of Minnesota Duluth volleyball looks forward to an action packed opening weekend of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play with back to back matches in North Dakota against the University of Mary and Minot State.
The Season So Far
The Bulldogs jump into conference play with an overall record of 7-1 following their 3-1 weekend in the Up North Tournament. They started off last weekend with a decisive win over Michigan Tech, showing composure for the rest of the tournament. Despite their loss to the Central Washington Wildcats in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC), UMD was able to bounce back with consecutive wins against Northern Michigan and Southern New Hampshire. UMD stayed at #7 in the most recent AVCA national rankings, but currently rank #11 in the nation in assists per set and #12 in the nation in kills per set before this weekend's conference matchups.
Scouting Report - UMary
UMD heads into this matchup confident, having never lost a match to the Marauders. With an all time record of 20-0, the Bulldogs look to continue their streak of victories in Bismarck. The last time these two teams faced each other in the 2022 season, UMD pulled out the 3-1 victory. Senior setter Madison Gordon walked away from that matchup with a team high of 47 assists, while senior defensive specialist Kaylyn Madison led the team with 27 digs.
UMary volleyball have opened their 2023 season with a 4-4 record, and head into this weekend fresh off a shutout loss to the Texas A&M Kingsville Javelinas in the Yellow Jacket Classic. They head into their opening clash with the Bulldogs searching for redemption, but with a mountain to climb only having won a single set against UMD in the past 10 years.
Scouting Report - Minot State
UMD heads to Minot State to face a Beavers volleyball team who they have also never lost a match to in their history with each other. The Bulldogs enter the matchup with a 14-0 overall record and a 36-0 set record in their past 12 regular season matchups. In these two teams' last head to head in the 2022 season, UMD again came away with the 3-0 victory. Junior middle blocker Samantha Paulsen looks to repeat and improve upon her 10 kill previous face off with the Beavers, while senior middle blocker Grace Daak returns to Minot after posting 3 blocks in their last matchup.
Minot volleyball return to conference play after a rough performance in the Lubbock Christian Tournament in Texas, where they ended with a record of 1-4. This outing brought their 2023 season record so far to 1-7 and means they will head into this weekend on a shutout loss to Lubbock Christian University.
Weekend Outlook
The Bulldogs first head to Bismarck to face UMary on Friday at 6:00 PM, they will then head farther north to take on Minot State on Saturday at 1:00 PM.
