University of Minnesota Duluth (1-0, 0-0 NSIC) freshman
Kenzie Kiminski shined in her collegiate debut with a match-high 22 kills on .302 hitting and 12 digs to lead the Bulldog volleyball team to a 3-2 (21-25, 25-20, 25-17, 17-25, 25-23) season-opening victory over Michigan Tech (0-1, 0-0 GLIAC) Thursday night at the Student Development Center in Houghton, Mich., as part of the UP North Tournament.
Kiminski was one of three Bulldogs to post a double-double in the five-set thriller, as senior
Madeline Guetzkow notched 14 kills and 11 digs, while sophomore
Brietta Tims added 11 kills and a career-high 18 digs. Sophomore
Julianne Hon also had a career night, posting career highs with 20 digs, five assists and three service aces. Senior
Paige Decker rounded out the quartet of UMD players with double-digit kills, recording 13 kills on .333 hitting while adding four block assists.
Junior
Ava Jones had 50 assists, nine digs and three service aces.
As a team, the Bulldogs led the Huskies in kills (68-58), assists (62-55), service aces (10-5) and digs (74-73), while the home team held the edge in hitting percentage (.239-.198) and team blocks (12-7).
After falling in the first set, 21-25, the Maroon and Gold bounced back to secure the second set, 25-20, behind a .371 team hitting percentage and six block assists. Kiminski hit .571 with five kills and four digs in the set. Tims had four kills, while Decker and Guetzkow added three and two kills, respectively. The turning point of the set came when a 7-0 run on serves from Guetzkow put the Bulldogs ahead 19-13.
UMD claimed the third set thanks to an 82 percent sideout percentage that helped the squad maintain its lead from the start. Jones served the Bulldogs ahead 5-0 to open the frame, and they never looked back. The Huskies were able to pull within four points four times near the end of the set, but a kill from Tims and three straight MTU errors put the set away.
The Huskies evened the match and forced a decisive fifth set with a win in the fourth, and the fifth set was a thriller that saw 12 tie scores and nine lead changes.
Early in the set, Michigan Tech went ahead 10-6, but a kill from Kiminski and a service ace from
Madison Reed brought UMD back within two points, 10-8. A 4-0 run behind the serve of Guetzkow gave the Maroon and Gold its first lead of the set, 15-14, putting the Bulldogs one point away from the set and match victory. From there, the two teams put together an epic battle that finally concluded with a service ace from Hon and a kill from Guetzkow.
The Bulldogs continue play in the UP North Tournament Friday with matches against Cal State East Bay at 10:30 a.m. CST and host Northern Michigan at 6 p.m. CST. They will conclude play in the event Saturday at 10:30 a.m. against Tiffin University.
