The University of Minnesota Duluth Women's Volleyball Team plays at home for the first time in 2025 when it hosts the 2025 Up North Preseason Tournament Sept. 11-13 at Romano Gymnasium. The Bulldogs are set to take on Michigan Tech in their home-opener Thursday at 6 p.m., before facing off with Adelphi Friday at 6 p.m. The Maroon and Gold will close out the event versus Northern Michigan Saturday at Noon. UMD's matches on Thursday and Saturday will air live on My9 Sports. 

LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs went 4-0 at the McKendree Invitational with wins over Southwest Oklahoma State 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-16), host McKendree 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-19), Purdue Northwest 3-1 (25-19, 25-14, 22-25, 25-23) and Missouri-St. Louis 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-19). 

SCOUTING MICHIGAN TECH: The Huskies also competed at the McKendree Invitational last weekend, posting a 2-1 record in the first tournament for first-year head coach Cindy Pindral. Michigan Tech picked up wins over Southwest Oklahoma State and host McKendree, while falling to Missouri-St. Louis. The Huskies have three D1 transfers on their roster, Avery Brown, Alayna Corwin and Julia Fledderjohn, and return three all-conference performers from 2024 in Tess Hayes, Rachel Zurek and Paige Wagner. 
 
SCOUTING ADELPHI: The Panthers enter the Up North Tournament with a 1-3 record after facing tough competition at the Opening Roar Tournament last weekend in Garden City, N.Y. On opening day, they fell to two top-20 teams in No. 1 and defending National Champion Lynn and No. 19 Gannon. They would bounce back to defeat Belmont Abbey, before dropping their tournament finale to Post. Macarty McQueen is the team's top returner as an All-America Honorable Mention selection in 2024.  

SCOUTING NORTHERN MICHIGAN: Similar to Adelphi, the Wildcats finished their first tournament of the season 1-3 against high-level competition at the SpringHill Suites Invitational hosted by the University of West Florida. Each of their opponents made the NCAA Tournament in 2024 and held a combined record of 101-31. NMU returns two all-conference selections from last season in Allie Barlow and Liesl Haugen. 

RECEIVING VOTES: Following their impressive start at the McKendree Invitational, the Bulldogs are receiving 55 votes in the latest AVCA/TARAFLEX Division II Women's Volleyball Poll released Sept. 8.  

BEST IN THE NCAA: Ava Jones enters the Up North Tournament ranked first in the NCAA (all divisions) with her 12.86 assists-per-set average. Jones also ranks fifth in Division II with 180 total assists. The sophomore setter helped UMD to a No. 3 national ranking with a 14.07 assists-per-set average, No. 6 in kills per set (14.93) and No. 7 in hitting percentage (.322).  

THREE TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Senior middle blocker Kylie Broten, junior right side hitter Madeline Guetzkow and sophomore setter Ava Jones all earned a spot on the McKendree Inviational All-Tournament Team, with Broten garnering Most Valuable Player accolades.

UMD VS. UP NORTH PRESEASON TOURNAMENT OPPONENTS: The Bulldogs are a combined 65-25 all-time vs. their opponents at the Up North Preseason Tournament. Here's the breakdown:
 

Team	Record	Last	Result	Streak
Michigan Tech	33-9	2024	W, 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-19)	W3
Adelphi	1-0	2023	W, 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 22-25, 27-25)	W1
Northern Michigan	31-16	2024	W, 3-1 (25-15, 25-18, 26-28, 25-16)	W3

JONES NSIC SETTER OF THE WEEK: Sophomore Ava Jones was named the NSIC Setter of the Week on Sept. 8. She led all NSIC players with a 12.86 assists-per-set average and helped the Bulldogs hit a league-high .322 (209-59-466) in their four wins at the McKendree Invitational. She distributed 180 assists, led the squad with nine service aces and added 23 digs, seven kills and four blocks. Jones had at least 40 assists in each of UMD's victories, including a career-high 50 assists and four service aces against Southwest Oklahoma State University, and 49 assists and nine digs against Purdue Northwest.

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 573 wins rank 12th among active DII coaches, just 10 wins behind Melissa Wolter's No. 11 mark of 583 at West Florida. Spring Hill's Peggy Martin ranks first with 1,490 wins. 

STAYING EFFICIENT: Kylie Broten led all NSIC players with a .573 attack percentage in four matches played last week, committing only three attack errors on 75 attempts. She tallied a team-best 46 kills and 13 total blocks and averaged team-highs with 3.29 kills and 0.93 blocks per set. Her .737 attack percentage against Missouri-St. Louis ranks first in the conference and is the highest in the league for a three-set match.

TOP-10 POINTS: Madeline Guetzkow is tied for No. 6 among the NSIC's top players with a 4.04 points-per-game average. She averaged 3.07 kills, 0.50 service aces and 0.86 blocks per set over four matches. She added 3.43 digs per set. She tallied two double-doubles, the first with 12 kills, 12 digs and five total blocks in the season-opener against SWOSU, and the second with career-highs of 15 kills and 19 digs against Purdue Northwest.

NICE DEBUT: Freshman Brietta Tims averaged 2.64 kills and 2.36 digs per set in her first weekend as a Bulldog. She hit .226 with 12 kills, seven digs and five service aces in her collegiate debut, and followed that up by hitting .462 with a match-high 15 kills and six digs in the nightcap vs. McKendree. She had her first-career double-double with 10 kills and 14 digs vs. Purdue Northwest.