UMD Sweeps Season Series

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

The University of Minnesota Duluth continued its win streak with a three-set sweep of St. Cloud State University in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference match at Romano Gym on Tuesday evening.

No. 2 UMD (23-1, 16-0 NSIC) struggled early with a tough St. Cloud State (7-17, 1-15 NSIC) blocking game, but would eventually roll to set victories of 25-20, 25-13, and 25-12.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Senior right side hitter Maddy Siroin led the Bulldogs with 12 kills, continuing an impressive string of matches, and hit .524 on evening with just one error. Senior outside Katie Ledwell also hit double-digits for the Bulldogs, but St. Cloud doomed itself with 26 errors in the match creating a lot of Bulldog points. Junior setter Ashley Hinsch had 27 assists to go with three kills and played part in four blocks.
• UMD also got an impressive game at the net from sophomore middle blocker Sydnie Mauch, who played a part in eight of UMD’s nine blocks on the night including one solo, adding four kills on the night. Senior libero Julie Rainey continued to lead UMD on the defensive end with 20 digs, with Ledwell just missing a double-double by adding nine on the night.

The opening set began with a UMD taking small leads and St. Cloud State coming back to tie the game at 7-7 and later 16-16.  After a timeout by head coach Jim Boos, the Bulldogs rallied for eight of the next 10 points and eventually closed out the set with a 25-20 victory. The second set saw UMD open up a 10-4, but St. Cloud State pulled within 11-8 before the Bulldogs scored seven straight on the serve of Hinsch to take firm control and ride out to the eventual 25-13 victory.

In the third set, Siroin and Ledwell combining for seven kills in a fast-moving opening set of points as the Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead 13-5. The pressure continued from UMD, and UMD sided-out on 9-of-12 St. Cloud State serves en route to a mathc sideout percentage of 65 percent. The Huskies got eight kills from senior outside Kaitlin Doughty, but the team hit just .011 on the night, and senior setter Erin Ohlemann collected just 12 assists. UMD hit .330 as St. Cloud State collected 30 digs, led by junior libero Briane Stamer with 10.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs will close out the home portion of their schedule this weekend when No. 11 Wayne State (Neb.) College and Augustana (S.D.) College (RV) come to town for another pair of tough NSIC match-ups. Opening serve between UMD and WSC is set for 7:00 p.m. on Friday night.