UMD Volleyball Dominates Two Teams on Halloweekend
The UMary Marauders had a rough time this weekend in the Romano Gymnasium. Photo by Grant Jones
UMD Volleyball had a clean sweep against Minot State Friday night and University of Mary on Saturday. Minot is ranked 15th and UMary is ranked 14th in the NSIC conference, while UMD is ranked 10th.
On Friday, Nov. 1, UMD faced Minot State in a clean sweep that lasted only three sets. Minot's record was two wins and 19 losses before facing UMD – whose record was 12 wins and nine losses. Before this game, Minot ended their 14 game losing streak by winning against Dickinson State, but this loss to UMD makes their record 2 and 20.
UMD won the first set 25 to 19 and dominated the next two sets 25 to 15, making the game a clean sweep. The Bulldogs worked as a team, getting 49 kills and only 16 errors. The servers smashed the competition with eight aces, four of the aces came from senior outside hitter Payton Addink.
Paige Decker was on her A-game with six blocks in three sets, helping UMD finish with nine blocks in total. Minot State had half as many kills as the Bulldogs with 28 but tied in errors with 16. Minot ended with only two aces and six blocks.
On Saturday, Nov. 2, UMD faced UMary in another clean sweep game. UMary’s record was four wins and 17 losses making them right above Minot, being ranked 14th before facing UMD. UMary was on a three match losing streak before UMD added a fourth loss.
UMD won the first set 25 to 15 and dominated the second set 25 to 5. The third set was the closest with UMary defending UMD’s match points right before the conclusion of the game, making the Bulldogs win 27 to 25 – a Bulldog clean sweep for Halloweekend.
UMD had 56 kills and 13 errors making it hard for UMary to catch up with – only having 25 kills and 16 errors by the end of the game. UMD had four aces this game but 12 blocks and an impressive high of 52 assists between freshman setter Ava Jones and senior setter Maddi Kealy.
Right side hitter Samantha Paulsen made 18 of the 56 kills, leading in kills for the night. Outside hitter Cianna Selbitschka got the second most number of kills in the game with 13.
The team's hard work and dedication, as well as coaching, has led to their pair of clean sweep victories. In hope of another clean sweep, the Bulldogs will go on the road for a matchup against Concordia-St. Paul on Friday, Nov. 8, at 6 p.m.