The No. 14 University of Minnesota Duluth volleyball team was tripped up by No. 16 St. Cloud State, 3-0 (21-25, 25-27, 20-25) in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) action Saturday afternoon at Romano Gymnasium. The Bulldogs fell to 16-3 overall and 9-2 in NSIC play, while the Huskies improved to 14-5 on the season and 8-3 in league action.
Brietta Tims led UMD offensively with eight kills, while
Madeline Guetzkow had seven kills and
Kenzie Kiminski added five kills.
Ava Jones dished out 20 assists and added six digs, two kills and a service ace.
Kendra Behrens had a career-high six total blocks in the contest, which included a career-best two solo blocks. She added two kills and a dig.
Madison Reed led the squad with 12 digs and had three assists.
The first set was tightly contested, with the two teams trading leads four times and tying the score 10 times throughout the frame. After the first six points of the match, neither team led by more than two points until a 6-0 run from the Huskies closed out the set. The Bulldogs led 21-19 prior to the streak. Kiminski had all five of her kills in the first set to pace the home team offensively.
After falling behind early in the second set, UMD used a 6-0 run to take a 14-13 lead, with Tims recording two kills and two blocks during the stretch. Tims added a service ace on her next trip to the line, before a kill and a block from Behrens extended the Bulldogs' lead to 17-14. UMD maintained its advantage and led 23-20 before St. Cloud State rallied with four straight points to take a 24-23 lead. The Bulldogs twice evened the score, but back-to-back kills by the Huskies secured the set. The Maroon and Gold had its best hitting outing in the second set, hitting .290 with 13 kills, led by six kills from Tims.
SCSU jumped ahead 12-6 in the third set, but the Bulldogs continued to claw back into the set and eventually pulled within five points, 22-17, and forced the Huskies to take a timeout. A solo block from Behrens, a kill from
Xada Johnson and a block from Jones and
Paige Decker closed the gap to 24-20, but a kill from SCSU's Emery Thury put an end to the Bulldogs' comeback. Johnson and Guetzkow each had three kills in the third frame and Behrens had three of her six total blocks in the final set.
UMD is back in action Oct. 16-17 when it hits the road for a pair of NSIC contests at Augustana and No. 2 Wayne State.
