The No. 23 University of Minnesota Duluth volleyball team used a balanced offensive attack and a strong defensive effort to sweep Northern State, 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-21) Friday night in its home opener at Romano Gymnasium. The Bulldogs improved to 10-1 overall and 3-0 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play with their sixth-consecutive three-set sweep. Northern State fell to 7-4 overall and 2-1 in the NSIC.
Freshman Kenzie Kiminski led UMD with a match-high 12 kills while hitting .524. Senior Madeline Guetzkow added 11 kills on .455 hitting, and senior Paige Decker hit .571 with nine kills as the Bulldogs hit .360 as a team. UMD used 12 players in the match, including four outside hitters and two liberos, highlighting the depth of the Bulldogs' roster.
"One of our strengths so far this year has been our ability to get different people opportunities during practices to be ready to contribute in moments," head coach Jim Boos said. "We keep them motivated for when they are called and they need to come in and be a spark. And, certainly, that was a huge difference tonight. Xada [Johnson] came in at a huge moment and made a couple of big blocks."
Johnson provided that spark with a career-high five blocks, including two block assists and a solo block that accounted for three of UMD's final four points in the third set. She also added six kills. Fellow junior Elyse Karrels finished with four blocks and two kills, while Decker added three blocks.
Senior Madison Reed led the Bulldogs with 10 digs, while junior setter Ava Jones recorded eight digs, two block assists and 34 assists.
UMD finished with advantages in kills (47-33), assists (41-31) and points (59-43) while holding Northern State to a .156 hitting percentage. The Bulldogs also matched their season high with 9.0 total blocks, compared with 5.0 for the Wolves.
The victory marked UMD's first win over Northern State since 2022, snapping a five-match losing streak in the series. The Bulldogs' six-match run of three-set sweeps is their longest since 2022, when they swept six consecutive opponents from Sept. 3-23.
"We'll see Northern State again near the end of the year and it'll be another challenging matchup," Boos said. "But, it was nice to have them here at home and play as well as we did tonight. It was a great way to start the home campaign."
The turning point of the first set came with the teams tied 9-9, when Ella Chandler served the Bulldogs to a 6-0 run that put UMD ahead 15-9. Guetzkow and Brietta Tims each recorded two kills during the stretch. UMD later pushed its lead to seven points, 21-14, on a service ace by Tims. The Wolves answered with a 5-1 run to cut the deficit to two, 24-22, but a service error halted Northern State's comeback attempt and gave the Bulldogs the 25-22 set win.
Tims had all five of her kills in the first set, while Guetzkow added four kills and Kiminski tallied three.
A kill from Decker and the serving of Karsyn Winchell helped UMD jump out to an 8-5 lead in the second set, but a 4-0 run from Northern State put the visitors ahead, 10-9. A kill from Kiminski stopped the Wolves' run and evened the set at 10-10. A 5-2 run gave the Bulldogs a three-point lead which they continued to hold on to until eventually extending it to four points, 21-17 on a kill from Guetzkow, which forced a Northern State timeout. The Wolves pulled within two once again, but a kill from Chandler and a block from Jones and Decker closed out the set.
Kiminski had four kills in the set, followed by Decker and Guetzkow with three apiece.
The Bulldogs hit .545 in the third set, getting five kills on .500 hitting from Kiminski and five kills on .444 hitting from Johnson. Decker added four kills on 1.000 hitting, while Guetzkow had four kills on .667 hitting in the final frame.
The teams were tied 12 times and traded the lead five times, but the final lead change came at 18-18 when back-to-back kills from Guetzkow put UMD ahead 20-18. The Bulldogs maintained the lead the rest of the way, with a kill from Kiminski followed by three blocks from Johnson and a kill from Julianne Hon to close out the sweep.
UMD is back in action at Romano Gymnasium Saturday when it hosts RV Jamestown at 1 p.m. The match will be broadcast live on My9 Sports.
