The No. 19 University of Minnesota Duluth volleyball team turned in a dominant defensive performance to earn a four-set victory over Jamestown, 25-27, 25-18, 27-25, 25-21, Friday night in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) action at Harold Newman Arena. The Bulldogs totaled 17.5 team blocks, led by career-high performances from
Elyse Karrels and
Grace Mueller, who finished with 11 and 10 blocks, respectively.
The win improved UMD's record to 19-6 on the season and 12-5 in NSIC play, while the Jimmies dropped to 16-9 overall and 9-8 in conference play.
Karrels had five kills to go along with her career night, and Mueller matched her career-best with six kills.
Paige Decker led the squad with 16 kills on .423 hitting, and added five blocks and matched her career-high with five digs.
Xada Johnson contributed 12 kills and
Brietta Tims tallied eight kills, five digs and a career-high five blocks.
Ava Jones dished out 42 assists and added seven digs.
Madison Reed had 14 digs, a pair of service aces and distributed five assists.
Karsyn Winchell had a career-high five service aces and seven digs.
The Bulldogs dropped the first set which had 12 tied scores and five lead changes, but bounced back in the second set to even the match, 1-1. Decker had four kills in the set, with the Bulldogs hitting .320 as a team.
The two teams remained even through the first 22 points of the second set, before UMD started to break away on back-to-back kills from Mueller and Tims to make the score 13-11. A 5-1 run extended the Bulldogs' lead 19-14. A kill from Karrels started another run, this time a 3-0 run, to put the visitors ahead by seven. The Jimmies would get as close as five points, but kills from Tims and Decker and an error by Jamestown sealed the win.
The Bulldogs jumped to an early 8-3 lead in set No. 3 behind the serving of Winchell. She tallied three of her five aces during the opening stretch, while getting kills from Mueller and Karrels. The Jimmies managed to shrink UMD's advantage to one, 9-8, following a 5-1 run, but the Maroon and Gold extended it back to four later in the set on a 3-0 run, 14-10. Jamestown tied the set once again, 14-14, before eventually taking an 18-16 lead later in the set. The Bulldogs trailed 23-19, before fighting its way to a 24-24 tie thanks to kills from Decker, Karrels and Johnson, and a pair of block assists from Karrels and Johnson. Then it was Karrels and Mueller who combined for back-to-back block assists to put an end to the third set and give UMD the one-set lead.
Johnson paced the team with four kills in the third set, with Decker and Mueller posting three kills apiece. Mueller added three block assists, while Karrels had five of her 11 block assists in the third frame.
UMD and Jamestown were once again evenly matched early in the fourth set, but the Maroon and Gold slowly started to break away with a 4-0 run behind the serving of Reed to go ahead, 12-8. The Jimmies would get as close as three points, but another big run from the Bulldogs extended their lead to seven points, 20-13, thanks to two kills from Johnson and a kill from Tims. Jamestown mounted a late comeback, however, closing the gap to one point, 21-20, behind a 7-1 run. A kill from Decker then sparked a 3-0 run that secured the win in the set and the match.
Decker led the Maroon and Gold with five kills in the fourth set, with Johnson and Tims adding four and three kills, respectively.
The Bulldogs conclude their regular-season road schedule Saturday when they face RV Northern State at 1 p.m. at the Barnett Center.
