The No. 16 University of Minnesota Duluth Volleyball Team hits the road for the first time in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play when it heads to Wayne, Neb., for a top-25 matchup at No. 14 Wayne State College Friday at 6 p.m., before making its way to Sioux Falls, S.D., to take on Augustana Saturday at 5 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs won their 10th-consecutive match with a 25-21, 25-12, 25-17 sweep of Bemidji State (3-8, 0-3 NSIC) in league action Tuesday night at Romano Gymnasium to conclude their six-match homestand.
SCOUTING NO. 14 WAYNE STATE: The Wildcats rank No. 14 in the latest AVCA/TARAFLEX Division II Coaches Poll released Monday. They boast a 9-2 overall record and a 3-0 league mark with wins over Minnesota Crookston, MSU Moorhead and Augustana.They were picked to finish fourth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll. Channatee Robles is Wayne State's top returner. She is averaging
SCOUTING AUGUSTANA: The Vikings enter the weekend 7-4 on the season and 1-2 in NSIC play after falling to No. 14 Wayne State 3-0 Tuesday night on the road in league action. Augustana is led offensively by Maya Wente who is hitting .371 with a 3.41 kills per set average.
UMD vs. WSC
| Record: 31-14 |
Last: Oct. 11, 2024 |
Result: L, 0-3 (20-25, 24-26, 21-25) |
Streak: L6 |
In the teams' last meeting on Oct. 11, 2024,
Kylie Broten led the Bulldogs with a .400 hitting percentage with a team-best 12 kills.
Madeline Guetzkow added five kills and
Ava Jones had 16 assists despite UMD falling 3-0 (20-25, 24-26, 21-25) on the road. The last time the Bulldogs defeated the Wildcats was a 3-2 victory on the road on Oct. 18, 2019.
UMD vs. AUGUSTANA
| Record: 37-13 |
Last: Oct. 12, 2024 |
Result: W, 3-2 (29-27, 17-25, 25-21, 17-25, 15-11) |
Streak: W1 |
Madeline Guetzkow had 11 kills and four digs,
Kylie Broten has nine kills and seven blocks and Ava Jone had 23 assists, three service aces and four digs to help the Bulldogs to a 3-2 win in Sioux Falls on Oct. 12 last season.
Paige Decker added five kills and four digs. UMD has won two of the teams' last three meetings.
BULLDOGS IN THE TOP 25: With nine-straight wins to open the 2025 campaign and two big wins against Sioux Falls and No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State to open NSIC action last weekend, UMD moved up eight spots to No. 16 in the latest AVCA/TARAFLEX Division II Poll released Monday. The Bulldogs earned 392 points after receiving 151 points in last week's poll.
UNDEFEATED: UMD is one of only 11 teams in Division II that maintains an undefeated record into week four of the 2025 season and the only team in the NSIC that remains unbeaten after Minnesota State fell to No. 15 St. Cloud State Tuesday night. The last time the Bulldogs opened the season 10-0 was in 2022 when they went 13-0 to start the year. It also marks this first time since 2022 that they went 3-0 to open NSIC play.
FIRST IN NCAA DIVISION II: Following Tuesday's sweep of Bemidji State where she hit .474 with 10 kills and four block assists, senior middle blocker
Kylie Broten moved into the No. 1 spot in NCAA Division II with a .513 attack percentage. She's the only player with an attack percentage over .500, as the No. 2 ranked player, Jazlyn Snow from West Alabama, holds a .495 hitting percentage.
BULLDOGS IN THE NCAA RANKINGS: Along with Broten leading the nation in hitting percentage, the Bulldogs have multiple additional players ranked among the NCAA's best.
Ava Jones currently ranks third in assists per set (11.78) and 10th in total assists (436), while
Paige Decker joins Broten in the top-20 in hitting percentage, ranking in at No. 16 with a .419 percentage. As a team, UMD ranks sixth in hitting percentage (.308), eighth in kills per set (14.43) and ninth in assists per set (13.41).
NCAA Division II Rankings
Individual
NCAA Division II Rankings
Team
| Category |
Rank |
Value |
| Win-Loss Percentage |
1st |
1.000 |
| Hitting Percentage |
6th |
.308 |
| Kills Per Set |
8th |
14.43 |
| Assists Per Set |
9th |
13.41 |
COUNTDOWN TO 1,000 ASSISTS: Ava Jones is creeping up on 1,000 career assists early in her sophomore campaign. With 935 heading into the weekend, the setter needs just 65 more assists to reach the milestone.
SISTER SHOWDOWN: UMD freshman outside hitter
Brietta Tims will return to her hometown of Sioux Falls, S.D., Saturday when the Bulldogs take on the Vikings. Not only that, the rookie will also face her sister, Viking senior outside hitter Sydney Tims.
Brietta Tims is averaging 2.07 kills and 1.90 digs per set with 10 service aces and six total blocks, while Sydney Tims is averaging 1.63 kills and 0.78 digs per set with 34 blocks and 18 service aces.
EFFICIENT HITTING PERFORMANCE: In the Bulldogs' win over Bemidji State on Tuesday, they hit .452 with only four attack errors, their best offensive outing since Sept. 15, 2023 when they hit .488 at Mary. 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.
BACK-TO-BACK CAREER OUTINGS: Sophomore setter
Ava Jones had career-highs with 52 assists and four kills, and added six digs and a critical solo block in the third set in UMD's reverse sweep vs. Sioux Falls Friday night. She matched her career-highs with another 52-assist, four-kill performance against No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State Saturday afternoon. She led all NSIC players with 104 assists to open league play, averaged 11.56 assists per set and helped the Bulldogs hit .301 (139-40-329).
AMONG THE LEAGUE LEADERS: The Bulldogs lead the league in hitting percentage with a .308 mark, while ranking second in points per set (18.70), kills per set (14.43), blocks per set (2.24) and service aces per set (2.03). Individually,
Kylie Broten leads the NSIC in hitting percentage, ranks eighth in blocks per set, 12th in points per set and 13th in kills per set.
Ava Jones ranks second in assists per set and ninth in service aces per set.
Madeline Guetzkow ranks fourth in points per set, ninth in blocks per set, ninth in kills per set and 11th in service aces per set.
Paige Decker ranks third in both hitting percentage and blocks and
Madison Reed ranks fourth in digs per set.
