The No. 15 University of Minnesota Duluth Volleyball Team returns home to Romano Gymnasium this weekend to host the University of Mary Friday night at 6 p.m. on My9 Sports and Minot State Saturday morning at 11 a.m. The Bulldogs enter the NSIC series with an 11-1 overall record and a 4-1 league mark. 

LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs split its first NSIC road series of the season in a pair of five-set thrillers. They fell to No. 14 Wayne State on Friday night, before holding on to defeat Augustana Saturday afternoon. 

SCOUTING UNIVERSITY OF MARY: The Marauders enter the weekend with a 4-9 overall record and a 1-4 NSIC record following losses to Winona State and No. 13 Concordia St. Paul last weekend. Sophomore Judith Burke leads UMary's offense with a 3.35 kills per set average and freshman Katie Bleeker paces the defense with a 3.26 dig per set average. 

SCOUTING MINOT STATE: The Beavers notched their second win of 2025 Tuesday night with a non-conference five-set home win over Bismark State College. They have yet to pick up a win in NSIC action, having dropped matches to Winona State, No. 13 Concordia St. Paul, University of Mary, Minnesota State Mankato and No. 16 St. Cloud State. Minot State will play at Bemidji State Friday night before making its way to Duluth Saturday morning. Katelyn Onespot-Donforth leads the Beavers with 2.14 kills per set, while Caton Pearcy paces the team with 3.14 digs per set.  

UMD vs. UMARY
Record: 22-0    Last: Nov. 2, 2024    Result: W, 3-0 (25-15, 25-5, 27-25)    Streak: W22
In the teams' last meeting on Nov. 2, 2024, Kylie Broten hit .333 with nine kills and five block assists, while Madeline Guetzkow hit .667 with six kills and six block assists. Paige Decker added four kills and seven total blocks as the Bulldogs had 12.0 total blocks in the contest. UMD has won in each of its 22 meetings against the Marauders. 

UMD vs. MINOT STATE
Record: 16-0    Last: Nov. 1, 2024    Result: W, 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-15)    Streak: W16
Paige Decker and Kylie Broten each had seven kills and Madeline Guetzkow added six kills to pace the Bulldog returners in the teams' last meeting. Decker also had six total blocks, Guetzkow had four and Broten had three. Ava Jones had a team-high 20 assists and six digs. UMD had 49 kills in the contest compared to just 28 for the Beavers. 

BULLDOGS IN THE TOP 25: With an 11-1 record on the season and 4-1 record in the tough NSIC, UMD moved up one spot this week to No. 15 in the latest AVCA/TARAFLEX Division II Poll released Monday. The Bulldogs earned 483 points after receiving 392 points in last week's poll. 

MILESTONE ACHIEVED: With her first assist in the Bulldogs' five-set win at Augustana on Saturday evening, sophomore Ava Jones hit the 1,000 career assists milestone. Jones has 1,053 career assists and is averaging 7.26 assists per set for her career. She has already surpassed her assists total of 499 from last season. 

DIGGIN IT: UMD totaled 107 digs in its contest at No. 14 Wayne State on Sept. 26, its most in a single match since Oct. 28, 2006 when it tallied 108 digs vs. Augustana. The total also ties for the sixth most in a five-set match in NCAA Division II this season. Four Bulldogs had career-bests in digs in the contest, including junior Madison Reed, who had a career-high 33 digs. Madeline Guetzkow had a career-best 21 digs, while Mollie Rupp had 19 digs and Georgia Koscielak had three digs, both career highs. 

LET'S COUNTDOWN AGAIN!: Madeline Guetzkow is the next Bulldog to approach a milestone this season, as she is just 86 kills away from reaching 500 career kills. The junior is averaging 3.64 kills per set this season and has totaled 171 kills through 12 matches. 

BULLDOGS IN THE NCAA RANKINGS: UMD enters the weekend with multiple players ranked among the NCAA's best. Ava Jones currently ranks second in assists per set (11.79) and fourth in total assists (554). Madeline Guetzkow moved into the top-26 in points per set with her 4.49 average and sits at No. 35 in total kills (171). As a team, UMD ranks sixth in hitting percentage (.294), seventh in assists per set (13.51) and eighth in kills per set (14.43).

EFFICIENT HITTING PERFORMANCE: In the Bulldogs' win over Bemidji State on Sept. 23, they hit .452 with only four attack errors, their best offensive outing since Sept. 15, 2023 when they hit .488 at UMary. The hitting percentage mark ranks No. 24 nationally this season for a three-set match. UMD's four attack errors, all of which came in the first set, were its fewest in a match since Oct. 18, 2016 when it had just four attack errors in a home sweep of St. Cloud State. Paige Decker's .733 hitting percentage for the match ties for the sixth-highest mark for a single match in NCAA Division II this season on 15-19 attempts and is the second-highest for a Bulldog this season behind Broten's .737 vs. Missouri-St. Louis on Sept. 9, 2025. 

AMONG THE LEAGUE LEADERS: The Bulldogs lead the league in hitting percentage with a .294 mark, while ranking second in kills per set (14.43), third in assists per set (13.51) and service aces per set (1.96), fourth in points per set (18.40) and sixth in blocks per set (2.02) and digs per set (15.55). 

In conference only matches, UMD leads the league in assists per set (13.91), is third in kills per set (14.95) and fourth in digs per set (16.41). 

BEST IN LEAGUE-ONLY MATCHES: Madeline Guetzkow leads the NSIC with a 4.50 kills-per-set average and with a 5.23 points-per-set average in league-only contests. She is the only player in the conference to reach the 100-point milestone so far this season with 115 total points, with the next closest player boasting 84.5 points. The right side hitter is just one kill away from notching her 100th kill in NSIC action this season and has 34 more kills than the next closest player - teammate Kylie Broten (65 kills).   

BOOS IN NCAA DII TOP-FOUR: UMD head coach Jim Boos ranks fourth among active NCAA Division II volleyball coaches and 12th among all active NCAA volleyball coaches with an .812 winning percentage. His 580 wins rank 12th among active DII coaches, just 10 wins behind Melissa Wolter's No. 11 mark of 590 at West Florida. Spring Hill's Peggy Martin ranks first with 1,495 wins.