The No. 23 University of Minnesota Duluth volleyball team closes out its regular-season schedule this weekend when it hosts Minot State and UMary at Romano Gymnasium in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) action. The Bulldogs take on the Beavers Friday at 6 p.m., before battling the Marauders Saturday at 11 a.m. for Senior Day. The morning match will be broadcast live on My9 Sports.   

LAST TIME OUT:  The Bulldogs went 1-2 in a week that saw Madeline Guetzkow and Kenzie Kiminski sidelined following a collision in the first set Tuesday vs. MSU Moorhead. UMD battled the Dragons to five sets, but fell to the visitors, 3-2, at Romano Gymnasium. The Maroon and Gold bounced back with a four-set win at Jamestown Friday night, before dropping a four-set match to RV Northern State to close its regular-season road schedule.  

CELEBRATING THE SENIORS: Madeline Guetzkow, Paige Decker and Madison Reed will be honored during Senior Day on Saturday vs. UMary. Guetzkow has appeared in 295 sets and enters the weekend with 800 career kills and 490 career digs. Decker has appeared in 278 sets and enters with weekend with a .309 career hitting percentage, 684 kills and 184 total blocks. Reed has appeared in 311 sets and enters the weekend with 743 digs, 166 assists and 73 service aces.  

SCOUTING MINOT STATE: The Beavers make their way to Duluth with a 5-22 overall record and a 1-17 NSIC mark. The team's lone conference win came against Minnesota Crookston on Oct. 30 at home, breaking a seven-match losing streak. Minot State leads the NSIC in digs with 18.20 per set, led by Maya Vibeto's 5.37 digs per set - a mark that ranks second in the league. Katelyn Onespot-Danforth is the team leader in kills with 2.07 per set, followed by Caton Pearcy with 2.01 per set. 

UMD VS. MINOT STATE
Series Record: 18-0
Last Meeting: Sept. 12, 2026 | UMD won 3-0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-14)
Streak: UMD, W18
Madeline Guetzkow posted a double-double with 10 kills and a season-high 20 digs to lead UMD to a road sweep of Minot State in the teams' meeting earlier this season. Guetzkow hit a match-high .667 and did not commit an attack error in 15 attempts. Kenzie Kiminski added nine kills and two solo blocks and Paige Decker and Xada Johnson contributed eight kills apiece. Decker also had four block assists. All 16 available members of the UMD squad saw action in the contest, with Grace Borys making her Bulldogs debut. McKenzie Burke recorded her first-career kill and added a block assist. 

SCOUTING UMARY: The Marauders enter the weekend with a 5-21 record on the season and a 3-15 conference mark after posting a Halloween sweep vs. Minnesota Crookston to snap a 12-match losing streak. UMary ranks third in the league in opponent digs, allowing 13.33 per set. Judith Burke has a team-leading 266 kills (3.02 per set), while Norah Thome is averaging a team-best 3.01 digs per set. 

UMD VS. UMARY
Series Record: 24-0
Last Meeting: Sept. 11, 2026 | UMD won 3-0 (25-21, 25-11, 25-17)
Streak: UMD, W24
Ava Jones secured her 2,000th career assist in the teams' first meeting this season, as the Bulldogs swept UMary on the road. The setter finished the match with 40 assists and two service aces. Madeline Guetzkow led all players with 14 kills and added eight digs and three block assists. Paige Decker hit .529 with nine kills and three block assists, while junior Xada Johnson added 10 kills. Kenzie Kiminski hit .538 with eight kills in her NSIC debut, and Elyse Karrels hit .636 with seven kills and two block assists. UMD held the Marauders to 29 kills and a .140 hitting percentage while holding the advantage in all major statistical categories.

IN THE POLLS: The Bulldogs dropped four spots from last week to No. 23 in the Nov. 2 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. 4 Wayne State, No. 8 Concordia-St. Paul, No. 13 Southwest Minnesota State, No. 15 St. Cloud State, and RV Northern State. 

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: The only rookie named to either all-NSIC squad, Kenzie Kiminski earned a spot on the All-NSIC second team in addition to being named the NSIC Freshman of the Year. The Floodwood, Minn., native leads all NSIC rookies and ranks 21st in the conference with a 2.81 kills per set average. She has 10 or more kills in nine matches, which includes two 20-plus kill performances, and has four double-doubles on the year. Kiminski is just the third Bulldog to be named NSIC Freshman of the Year and the first since Emily Torve earned the distinction in 2016. 

ALL-NSIC HONORS: The UMD volleyball team had four players earn All-NSIC accolades, league officials announced Thursday. Senior right side hitter Madeline Guetzkow and senior middle blocker Paige Decker each earned a spot on the All-NSIC First Team, while freshman outside hitter Kenzie Kiminski and junior setter Ava Jones were named to the All-NSIC Second Team. Guetzkow is averaging 4.07 points and 3.49 kills per set, both of which rank in the top-six in the NSIC, while Decker leads the conference with a .410 hitting percentage. The middle blocker is also averaging 3.09 kills and 0.77 blocks per set, both of which rank in the league's top-20. Jones is averaging 11.04 assists per set to rank third in the NSIC and fourth nationally, and also ranks in the top-five in league standings in aces per set.

NCAA D2 NPI RANKINGS: UMD checks in at No. 41 nationally in the latest NCAA Division II Power Index (NPI) rankings released Nov. 3, and at No. 11 in the Central Region, down two spots from last week, with a 59.357 NPI. The Bulldogs' highest ranking was No. 28 on Oct. 26 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. 

BLOCK PARTY: In its win at Jamestown on Oct. 30, UMD tallied 17.5 total team blocks, a mark that ranks No. 7 in NCAA Division II this season for a four-set match and is the second-highest total in the NSIC in 2026. Elyse Karrels had a career-high 11.0 total blocks in the win, while Grace Mueller added a career-high 10.0 total blocks. Brietta Tims and Paige Decker each added five blocks for the Bulldogs. 

NCAA TOP DOGS: The Bulldogs rank eighth in NCAA Division II in kills with 14.13 per set. They have had 40 or more kills in all but two matches this season, and have tallied 60+ on three occasions. Madeline Guetzkow paces UMD with a 3.49 kills per set average, followed by Paige Decker with 3.09 kills per set and Kenzie Kiminski with 2.91 kills per set. 

EFFICIENT HITTERS: UMD has three hitters rank in the top-20 in the NSIC in hitting percentage, with Paige Decker leading the league and ranking 12th nationally with a .410 mark. Madeline Guetzkow ranks 11th in the NSIC with a .333 hitting percentage and Elyse Karrels ranks 17th in conference standings with a .309 attack percentage. As a team, the Bulldogs rank fifth in the conference and 26th in NCAA Division II with a .254 mark.