UMD’s Lange Records 1000th Career Kill in 3-0 Win

Sept 8, 2012

Northland Sports Online

Junior outside hitter Kate Lange made University of Minnesota Duluth history Saturday night, clubbing the 1,000th kill of her career in leading the Bulldogs to a 3-0 (25-17, 25-12 25-18) victory over the University of Minnesota, Crookston at Romano Gymnasium.

The milestone kill came on a finesse tip shot — the exact opposite her typical thunderous swings from the left side — but counted just the same as the All-American from Hibbing, Minn., became the 16th UMD attacker to reach the 1,000-kill club.

The sixth-ranked Bulldogs (9-0) set the tempo early in the opening set, straying from their season-long trend of notoriously slow starts. Ahead of the Golden Eagles 18-15, No. 6 UMD went on a 7-2 run, taking a one-set lead on a Crookston error. Things went from bad to worse for the Golden Eagles (3-4) from there.

Everything fired on all cylinders in the second set for the Bulldogs, who scored the first three points on successive kills by senior middle blocker Kalli Lochner. With the momentum in its favor, UMD picked up nine of the next 11 points to build a 12-2 edge. The Bulldogs breezed to a 2-0 set lead from there and kept pace through the decisive third set while allowing some young reserves to gain valuable experience.

Lange led all attackers with a match-high 14 kills as the only player to break double figures in that department. Rookie setter Ashley Hinsch collected 34 helpers in guiding UMD to 43 kills and an attack percentage of .235. As usual, sophomore libero Julie Rainey had a big night defensively with 17 kills.

The Bulldogs return home to Romano Gymnasium next weekend to start the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference portion of the schedule. UMD will play host to Northern State University and Minnesota State University-Moorhead next Friday and Saturday.

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