The No. 19 University of Minnesota Duluth volleyball team has a three-match workload this week, as it hosts MSU Moorhead Tuesday at 6 p.m. to close out its three-match homestand, before facing Jamestown and RV Northern State on the road. The Bulldogs will take on the Jimmies Friday at 6 p.m. at Harold Newman Arena, before closing out their regular-season road schedule vs. the Wolves Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Barnett Center. Tuesday's contest against MSU Moorhead will be broadcast live on My9 Sports. 

LAST TIME OUT: UMD swept then-No. 10 Southwest Minnesota State behind a balanced offensive attack led by senior Paige Decker. The senior led a foursome of Bulldogs with double-figure kills with 14, while Xada Johnson contributed 12 kills and freshman Kenzie Kiminski and senior Madeline Guetzkow added 11 and 10 kills, respectively. The Maroon and Gold then came back to reverse sweep Sioux Falls on Saturday behind 20 kills from Kiminski and a double-double with 56 assists and 14 digs from Ava Jones.  

SCOUTING MSU MOORHEAD: The Dragons enter Tuesday's contest with an 11-13 overall record and a 4-11 NSIC record, having lost four-straight contests and nine of their last 10 coming into the week. MSU Moorhead ranks sixth in the NSIC in blocks with 1.97 per set and third in opponent blocks at 1.57 per set. Raiah Mandell leads the Dragons offensively with 2.79 per set, followed by Maci Martini with 2.41 per set. Leah Laqua has 64.0 total blocks on the season to lead the squad, followed by 57.0 from Mya Pfeifer and 52.0 from Ava Wild. 

UMD VS. MSU MOORHEAD
Series Record: 71-13
Last Meeting: Sept. 29, 2026 | UMD won 3-0 (25-20, 26-24, 25-16)
Streak: UMD, W11
Paige Decker and Madeline Guetzkow combined for 31 kills to lead UMD to a sweep of MSU Moorhead in the teams' previous meeting this season at Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse on Sept. 29. Decker posted a .789 hitting percentage in the match, while Guetzkow notched a .480 mark and added seven digs and three service aces. As a team, the Bulldogs hit .378 and received 41 assists from setter Ava Jones. UMD's defense held the Dragons to just 33 kills and a .204 hitting percentage. 

SCOUTING JAMESTOWN: The Jimmies enter the week with a 15-8 record on the season and an 8-7 league mark after splitting its road series at Winona State, 3-1, and at Concordia-St. Paul, 1-3, last weekend. They have have lost three of their last four matches and five of their last seven. Jamestown is a tough defensive team, ranking third in the NSIC in digs with 17.42 per set and blocks with 2.20 per set. Kyleigh Schopp leads the Jimmies and ranks second in the league in blocks per set with 1.13 per set, while Sophie Ketterling leads the conference and ranks sixth nationally with 5.51 digs per set. Offensively, Gracie Adamson leads Jamestown with 3.36 kills per set. 

UMD VS. JAMESTOWN
Series Record: 2-0
Last Meeting: Sept. 19, 2026 | UMD won 3-0 (25-13, 25-23, 25-22)
Streak: UMD, W2
UMD swept the visiting Jimmies at Romano Gymnasium in September behind a double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs from Kenzie Kiminski and 10 kills from Xada Johnson. Madeline Guetzkow and Paige Decker added nine kills apiece. Ava Jones also had a double-double with 31 assists and 10 digs, while adding three service aces and two block assists. Elyse Karrels tallied eight total blocks and three kills. As a team the Bulldogs outhit the Jimmies, .257 to .093. 

SCOUTING NORTHERN STATE: The Wolves are receiving 12 votes in the latest AVCA-Taraflex Division II Women's Volleyball Poll with a 16-7 overall record and 11-4 conference record. They split their series with Concordia-St. Paul, 0-3, and Winona State, 3-1, and have now won three of their last four matches and five of their last seven. Northern State ranks second in the NSIC with a .286 hitting percentage, paced by Victoria Persha's .348 hitting percentage. Linnea Nesheim ranks second in the conference and 19th nationally with 4.00 kills per set, while Ava Nilsson is the NCAA Division II leader in assists with 11.74 per set. 

UMD VS. NORTHERN STATE
Series Record: 55-10
Last Meeting: Sept. 18, 2026 | UMD won 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-21)
Streak: UMD, W1
UMD swept the visiting Wolves in its home-opener at Romano Gymnasium in September to snap a five-match losing streak in the series dating back to 2022. Kenzie Kiminski led the Bulldogs with 12 kills on .524 hitting, while Madeline Guetzkow added 11 kills on .455 hitting and Paige Decker contributed nine kills on .571 hitting. The Bulldogs hit .360 as a team, compared to .156 for Northern State. 

IN THE POLLS: The Bulldogs moved up one spot from last week to No. 19 in the Oct. 26 AVCA-Taraflex Division II Women's Volleyball Poll. UMD is one of six NSIC teams ranked or receiving votes in the top-25, including No. 2 Wayne State, No. 9 Concordia-St. Paul, No. 13 St. Cloud State, No. 15 Southwest Minnesota State, and RV Northern State. 

NCAA D2 NPI RANKINGS: UMD improved nine spots to No. 28 nationally in the latest NCAA Division II Power Index (NPI) rankings released Oct. 26, and to No. 9 in the Central Region, up two spots from last week, with a 60.737 NPI. The NPI is a ranking system used to evaluate team performance, considering game results and the strength of opponents to calculate a team's NPI value and ranking. The primary purpose of NPI is to compare teams within Division II for ranking and NCAA Championship selection. Once automatic qualifiers are determined, remaining teams are considered for at-large selection based on NPI ranking until the championship field is filled. 

THREE-TIME NSIC SETTER OF THE WEEK: Junior Ava Jones was named the NSIC Setter of the Week for the third time this season and the fourth time of her career after helping the Bulldogs to a 2-0 record last week. She led the NSIC and ranked ninth in NCAA Division II with 12.00 assists per set, while helping the Bulldogs average 15.50 kills per set as a team, the second-best mark in the conference. She also averaged a team-best 3.50 digs per set and 0.63 blocks per set in the pair of victories vs. No. 10 SMSU and Sioux Falls.