The No. 19 University of Minnesota Duluth volleyball team concludes its three-match road trip this weekend when it faces No. 5 Concordia-St. Paul and Winona State. The Bulldogs will take on the Golden Bears Friday at 6 p.m. at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, before heading to Winona to take on the Warriors at McCown Gymnasium Saturday at 2 p.m. 

LAST TIME OUT: UMD extended its winning streak to 10 matches as it swept MSU Moorhead on the road Tuesday, 25-20, 26-24, 25-16, in midweek NSIC action. Seniors Paige Decker and Madeline Guetzkow combined for 31 of the Bulldog's 52 kills to lead the team offensively. Decker hit .789 with a match-high 16 kills, while Guetzkow added 15 kills on .480 hitting. Ava Jones dished out 41 assists and added four kills. As a team, the Maroon and Gold hit .378. 

SCOUTING CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL: The Golden Bears host the Bulldogs Friday with an 11-3 overall record and a 6-1 league record, with it lone NSIC loss coming against No. 2 Wayne State. CSP ranks third in the league in points per set with a 17.70 points per set average and ranks fifth in kills per set with 13.91. It has faced seven teams ranked in the AVCA top-25 this season, boasting a 5-2 recond against those teams. Reigning AVCA National Player of the Year Makenna Nold leads the NSIC with 4.60 points per set and ranks in the top-five in kills per set and aces per set. 

UMD VS. CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL
Series Record: 28-37
Last Meeting: Nov. 18, 2025 - NSIC Tournament Quarterfinals | UMD lost 3-1 (9-25, 19-25, 25-20, 20-25)
Streak: UMD, L12
Last season, the Bulldogs and the Golden Bears met once in the regular season and once in the NSIC Tournament Quarterfinals. In the pair of meetings, Paige Decker paced UMD with 34 kills, including 21 kills on .500 hitting in the teams' regular-season meeting at Romano Gymnasium. Madeline Guetzkow and Xada Johnson each had 17 total kills in the pair of contests, while Ava Jones had 92 assists between the two matches. UMD's last win over CSP came on Nov. 8, 2019 at Romano Gymnasium, with its last win in St. Paul was Sept. 27, 2019. 

SCOUTING WINONA STATE: The Warriors enter the weekend with a 2-11 overall record and a 1-6 NSIC mark, with its lone league victory coming against Sioux Falls in their NSIC opener on Sept. 11. On Tuesday, WSU took No. 15 St. Cloud State to five sets in a close match at home. Abby Ongna leads the Warriors with a 3.49 kills per set average, while Maddie Brown boasts a team-best 30 total blocks. 

UMD VS. WINONA STATE
Series Record: 81-6
Last Meeting: Nov. 14, 2025 | UMD won 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-16)
Streak: UMD, W1
Madeline Guetzkow, Xada Johnson and Paige Decker combined for 36 of UMD's 46 total kills to lead the Bulldogs to a sweep of Winona State at Romano Gymnasium in their lone meeting in 2025. Guetzkow led all players with 14 kills, while Johnson and Decker added 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Ava Jones had a double-double with 41 assists and 11 digs. 

AVCA DII NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior Madeline Guetzkow was named AVCA Division II National Player of the Week on Sept. 29 after posting a .660 hitting percentage, 5.75 points per set and 5.50 kills per set in sweeps of Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State. The right side hitter posted a match-high 16 kills while hitting .652 against the Beavers and led all players with 17 kills while hitting .667 against the Golden Eagles. Both hitting percentages rank among the NCAA's top single-match performances this season. Guetzkow added eight digs and three total blocks over the weekend. Guetzkow also earned NSIC Offensive Player of the Week honors for her performance. 

NCAA LEADERS: The Bulldogs are the NCAA Division II leaders in kills per set with 15.00 kills per set. They are averaging 15.33 kills per set in NSIC matches this season and 15.37 kills per set during their 10-match winning streak. Madeline Guetzkow paces UMD with a 3.76 kills per set average, followed by Paige Decker with 3.24 kills per set and Kenzie Kiminski with 3.09 kills per set. Decker ranks second nationally with her .457 hitting percentage and Ava Jones ranks second nationally with her 11.57 assists per set. 
 
IN THE POLLS: The Bulldogs moved up one spot from last week to No. 19 in the Sept. 28 AVCA-Taraflex Division II Women's Volleyball Poll. UMD is one of five NSIC teams ranked in the top-25, including No. 2 Wayne State, No. 5 Concordia-St. Paul, No. 11 Southwest Minnesota State and No. 15 St. Cloud State. 

WIN NO. 600 SECURED: Head coach Jim Boos secured his 600th career victory Sept. 26 as the Bulldogs swept visiting Minnesota Crookston at Romano Gymnasium. In his 25th season at the helm of the UMD volleyball program, Boos owns a 601-144 career record. The skipper is just the 11th active NCAA Division II women's volleyball head coach to reach the milestone and 45th active head coach to reach win No. 600. His .807 career winning percentage is third among active Division II head coaches and ninth among active head coaches at all divisions. 

BACK-TO-BACK NSIC SETTER OF THE WEEK: Ava Jones earned back-to-back NSIC Setter of the Week honors on Sept. 21 and Sept. 28 after helping the Bulldogs to four-straight league sweeps. Jones garnered her second-consecutive NSIC Setter of the Week accolade, and third of her career, after averaging 11.67 assists per set while leading UMD to an NSIC-best .344 hitting percentage against BSU and Minnesota Crookston. Not only did she rank second in the league in assists, but she also ranked second in the league with 0.67 aces per set and also averaged 3.17 digs per set. She picked up her first accolade of the season Sept. 21 after averaging 10.83 assists per set and orchestrating the UMD offense to a .305 hitting percentage in a pair of sweeps over Northern State and RV Jamestown. 

SWEEP STREAK AT 10 MATCHES: UMD enters this weekend's road series having swept its last 10 opponents, including CSU-Pueblo, Adelphi, Florida Tech, UMary, Minot State, Northern State, Jamestown, Bemidji State, Minnesota Crookston and MSU Moorhead. The last time the Bulldogs swept 10-straight was during the 1996 season from Sept. 20 through Oct. 23.   

STATS DURING STREAK: The Bulldogs have outhit their opponents, .343 to .115, during their 10-match winning streak, while also holding a significant advantage in kills (15.37 to 9.20), assists (13.83 to 8.53), digs (14.17 to 11.10) and blocks (2.02 to 1.30). Madeline Guetzkow is averaging 4.10 kills per set and hitting .467 during the stretch, while Ava Jones is averaging 11.90 assists per set and 2.03 digs per set. 

NSIC LEADER: UMD leads the NSIC in points (18.87), kills (15.00), opponent hitting percentage (.145), opponent assists (9.29), opponent kills (9.90) and opponent digs (11.96) heading into its road series at Concordia-St. Paul and Winona State. It also ranks second in the league in hitting percentage (.302), assists (13.59) and service aces (1.98). 

EFFICIENT HITTERS: The Bulldogs have three players that rank in the top six in the NSIC in hitting percentage, including the league-leader in Paige Decker with a .457 hitting percentage and second in the conference in Madeline Guetzkow with a .395 hitting percentage. Elyse Karrels ranks sixth with a .384 hitting percentage. In league-only matches, Decker and Guetzkow rank 1-2 in hitting percentage with .526 and .500 marks, respectively. Karrels also appears in the top-10 in conference-only matches with a .333 hitting percentage to rank 10th. 

ACES WILD: Sophomore Brietta Tims ranks second in the league and ranks 46th nationally with 0.52 aces per set and is tied for seventh with 22 total service aces. She has recorded at least one ace in 12 of the 14 matches in which she's appeared, including a career-high five in the Bulldogs' win at Northern Michigan. 

SINGLE-GAME TOP-25: The Bulldogs have put up some big numbers this season, including some single-match highs that rank among the top in the NCAA. Paige Decker's .789 hitting percentage at MSU Moorhead ranks sixth on 15-19 attempts and her .692 hitting percentage and 19 kills vs. Cal State East Bay ranks No. 8 for min. 20 attempts and tie for No. 16 in a three-set match, respectively. 

Madeline Guetzkow's .667 hitting percentage vs. Minnesota Crookston is tied for 11th and her .652 hitting percentage vs. Bemidji State is tied for 18th for a min. 20 attempts. Guetzkow's .667 hitting percentage vs. Minot State is tied for No. 27 on 15-19 attempts. Ava Jones's 42 assists vs. Tiffin are tied for No. 13 and her 41 at MSU Moorhead are tied for No. 24 for a three-set match.