The No. 24 University of Minnesota Duluth Volleyball Team (8-0, 1-0 NSIC) rallied to reverse sweep the University of Sioux Falls (5-4, 0-1 NSIC) in its Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opener Friday night at Romano Gymnasium.
 
After dropping the first two sets 23-25, 15-25, the Bulldogs regrouped with 28-26, 25-16 and 15-13 set wins to end the match and start the year 8-0. It marked UMD's first reverse-sweep win since Aug. 26, 2022 vs. Drury in St. Cloud, Minn. It also marked the first time the Bulldogs opened the season 8-0 since 2022 when they had 13-straight wins to open the year.
 
Senior Kylie Broten, junior Madeline Guetzkow and sophomore Ava Jones each had career performances in the five-set win. Broten hit .621 with a career and match-high 21 kills and Guetzkow added a double-double with a career-best 20 kills, 13 digs, two block assists and a career-high four assists. Jones had career-highs with 52 assists and four kills, and added six digs and a critical solo block.
 
Junior Paige Decker contributed 13 kills and two block assists, Madison Reed had a match-high 18 digs and career-high four assists, and freshmen Mollie Rupp and Brietta Tims added eight and six kills, respectively.
 
UMD had 73 kills to 63 kills for the Cougars and had seven service aces to USF's four. Each team had 5.0 blocks, but the Maroon and Gold had the slight advantage in digs, 54-51. USF had a .333-.296 edge in hitting percentage.
 
The Bulldogs took an early 10-3 lead in the first set, forcing the Cougars to take a timeout. The squad had seven kills and hit .583 during the stretch. Back-to-back aces from Georgia Koscielak out of the timeout extended UMD's lead to 12-3. Sioux Falls strung together an 11-3 run, however, to even the score 14-14, before taking its first lead of the night 16-15 a few points later. The two teams would trade leads four more times before the Cougars closed it out with two-straight points.
 
UMD struggled to overcome a fast start from USF in the second set, as it trailed by as many as 12 points, 18-6, during the frame. A 7-2 run pulled the Bulldogs to within seven points, 20-13, and they would get as close as six points, but a 3-1 run put the set away.
 
The third set remained close until USF pulled ahead by five points, 13-18. The home team grinded out a 10-5 run, however, capped by back-to-back kills from Guetzkow, to knot the set 23-23. A service error made it 23-24, but another kill from the junior evened it once again. The Cougars and the Bulldogs exchanged kills, before a kill from Jones put the home team at set point. A Sioux Falls kill evened the set at 26-26, and it was Jones with a massive solo block who set the Bulldogs up for set point 27-26. An error from the visitors kept the Maroon and Gold alive and sent the match into a fourth set.  
 
UMD controlled the fourth set, cruising to a 25-16 win to send the match into a decisive fifth set. The momentum carried into the final set for the Bulldogs as they jumped out to a 13-8 lead, but Sioux Falls was not going down without a fight. It used a 3-0 run to claw back to within two points, 13-11, and a kill from Decker gave match point to UMD. Back-to-back kills from the Cougars made it a one-point set, but Broten put an end to the set and the match with her 21^st kill.
 
The No. 24 Maroon and Gold is back in action Saturday with a top-25 showdown vs. No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State University at 2 p.m. at Romano Gymnasium. The match will be broadcast live on My9 Sports. Members of the UMD volleyball team will be signing autographs following the match.