Senior
Paige Decker posted 15 kills and five total blocks to lead the No. 23 University of Minnesota Duluth volleyball team to a sweep of the University of Mary, 25-15, 25-19, 25-14, on Senior Day at Romano Gymnasium Saturday morning. With the victory, the Bulldogs wrapped up regular-season play with a 21-7 overall record and a 14-6 NSIC mark, while the Marauders fell to 5-23 overall and 3-17 in conference play.
Junior
Xada Johnson and freshman
Kenzie Kiminski each had 10 kills for the Maroon and Gold, while senior
Madeline Guetzkow hit .583 with eight kills, 10 digs and two service aces in her first match back from injury. Fellow senior
Madison Reed led all players with 12 digs and added two service aces and two assists in the Bulldogs' regular-season finale.
Junior
Ava Jones had 47 assists in orchestrating the UMD offense to a .369 hitting percentage. The setter also had five digs and three block assists.
Along with outhitting the Marauders, .369-.167, the Bulldogs also had more than double the amount of kills as the visitors, totaling 56 kills to UMary's 25 kills. They also held the advantage in assists (51-25), service aces (5-3), digs (43-22) and total team blocks (7.0-6.0).
In the first set, the Bulldogs pulled away early, 11-4, thanks to a 7-0 run that included two kills each from Johnson and Decker and one from Kiminski. Another 4-0 run extended UMD's lead to nine points, 15-6, before an eventual 4-1 run moved the home team's advantage to 24-12. Johnson sealed the win with her sixth kill of the set.
As a team, UMD hit .441 in the opening frame, paced by Decker's seven kills on .875 hitting and two block assists. Jones had 17 assists and four digs.
It didn't take long for the Maroon and Gold to pull ahead in the second set, using a 9-3 opening run to take a six-point advantage.
Brooke Aslakson, who finished the match with six kills on .714 hitting, and Guetzkow had two kills apiece during the run. A 6-3 run stretched the lead to eight points, 18-10. Four kills from Kiminski and two more from Aslakson helped the Bulldogs secure the two-set advantage in the set and cap the 9-7 set-ending run.
It was another impressive hitting performance for UMD in the second set, as it posted a .371 hitting percentage behind 17 assists from Jones. Both Aslakson and Kiminski had six kills in the stanza, while Reed had six digs and two service aces.
The third set saw the Bulldogs pull ahead early 10-1 thanks to two kills each from Kiminski and Decker. Decker added a pair of blocks and Guetzkow tallied a service ace during the run. The Marauders cut UMD's lead to six points, 14-8, but the home team answered with an 11-6 run to secure the sweep. Decker had five of her team-best seven kills during the set-sealing run and added three total blocks in the set.
The Bulldogs will be back in action Tuesday, Nov. 10 when they compete in the NSIC Championship Quarterfinals.
