UMD unable to close out Winona State in NSIC volleyball opener
WINONA — No. 11 Minnesota Duluth suffered an ill-timed offensive slump on Thursday, losing its Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opener at Winona State, 3-2 (25-23, 19-25, 18-25, 25-17, 15-12).
UMD, which had yet to record a hitting percentage below .267 in any match in their seven-match season-opening win streak, didn't match that mark in any of the five sets against the Warriors, including a negative (more errors than kills) in the fourth set and a .000 (five kills, five errors) in the decisive fifth.
The Bulldogs' last lead in the match came at 8-7 in the fourth set, and UMD played from behind for all but the first two points of the fifth.
Madeline Guetzkow recorded 13 kills and Paige Decker 11 for the Bulldogs, while Ava Jones had a team-leading 25 assists. Defensively, UMD got 30 digs from Kaylyn Madison and 28 from Cianna Selbitschka. WSU outblocked UMD, 14-11 with the Warriors' Abigail Savatski getting a hand on six different attacks.
UMD (7-1, 0-1) hosts No. 10 Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday for its home opener.
