The No. 19 University of Minnesota Duluth volleyball team used relentless defense and 45 combined kills from
Madeline Guetzkow,
Kenzie Kiminski and
Paige Decker to defeat No. 5 Concordia-St. Paul in a five-set thriller, 3-2 (25-23, 23-25, 18-25, 25-22, 15-13), Friday night at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul. The Bulldogs won their 11th-straight match to improve to 15-1 on the season and remain unbeaten in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play with an 8-0 league mark. The Golden Bears fell to 11-4 overall and 6-2 in conference action.
Guetzkow had a double-double with a match-high 19 kills and 15 digs, while also totaling three service aces, two block assists, and two assists. Kiminski also had a double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs, while notching a career-high three service aces and one block assist. Decker tallied 12 kills, three block assists and three digs.
Madison Reed had match-highs with 20 digs and four service aces, while
Elyse Karrels led the Maroon and Gold with four total blocks and added eight kills - six of which came in the fourth and fifth sets.
Ava Jones once again impressed with 51 assists and 13 digs for her fourth double-double of the season, while also securing three block assists and two service aces.
The Bulldogs had 13 service aces in the contest, their most since Sept. 2, 2005 when they had 13 service aces vs. Hillsdale College, and the most in a single match in the NCAA (all divisions) this season.
UMD won the first set behind a .205 team hitting percentage and three service aces. Guetzkow and Kiminski each had four kills, while Decker added three and Karrels chipped in two. A kill from Karrels late in the set evened the score at 19-19 and was the turning point of the set, as it sparked a 6-1 Bulldogs run and put them ahead 24-20. CSP was able to pull within one point, 24-23, but an attack error by the Golden Bears closed out the frame.
Concordia-St. Paul was able to win the next two sets, but UMD fought back to claim a win in the fourth set. The Maroon and Gold fell down by three points, 8-5 early on, but a 5-0 run put the team ahead by two points, 10-8. Karrels was critical in the run, contributing four points, including two kills and two blocks, during the stretch. The two teams would tie up the match four more times before three-straight kills from
Xada Johnson put the Bulldogs ahead 16-13 and forced a CSP timeout.
A kill from Guetzkow eventually made it 22-18 in favor of the Bulldogs, but CSP came back with three-straight points to pull within one point, 22-21. But, another Guetzkow kill and a service ace from Kiminski made it 24-22, before an attack error by the home team gave UMD the set win and forced the match into a decisive fifth set. The Maroon and Gold hit .286 in the frame and got three kills from five different players.
The fifth set saw eight tie scores and three lead changes, but the feisty Bulldogs came out on top thanks to 17 digs, two service aces and eight combined kills from Guetzkow, Karrels and Decker. The Maroon and Gold also notched a .320 hitting percentage in the set, its highest of the night.
After being evenly matched through the first sixteen points, UMD went ahead 12-8 on kills from Kiminski and Guetzkow and a service ace from Jones. The Golden Bears were able to put together a 4-0 run to even the match 12-12, but kills from Karrels and Johnson put the Bulldogs back ahead by two, 14-12. The home team again pulled within one point, 14-13, but a service error sealed the victory for UMD.
The Bulldogs are back in action Saturday at 2 p.m. for a NSIC matchup with Winona State at McCown Gymnasium.
