No.7 UMD Volleyball unbeaten after tournament

DULUTH, MN. (Northern News Now) - After going 4-0 in their first preseason tournament, the UMD volleyball team moved up to number 7 in the AVCA poll.

The Bulldogs only dropped two sets all weekend long, largely thanks to Libero Kaylyn Madison.

Madison not only picked up all-tournament team honors, but on September 5, the Conference Office named Madison the NSIC defensive player of the week

The last time a Bulldog earned this honor was in the fall of 2021.

Madison averaged 5.64 digs per set this weekend, the second most in the league. She had a career-high of 29 digs against Adelphi in game one.

Head Coach Jim Boos sang Madison’s praises, saying while she wasn’t named to the All-Conference Team last year, it’s only proven to be motivation.

“She wants to be able to do her job at such a high level that people are going to have to recognize her for it, and really, she made a great statement early on,” Boos said. “Truthfully if I had to name an MVP of the weekend for us, it was Kaylyn. She was steady in serve receive and she took care of a lot of really heavy swings and kept the ball in play to really allow ourselves more opportunities offensively.”

“Kaylyn Madison worked her butt off this summer and I know that she was in the gym and facilities being able to just touch balls and lift some weights,” said UMD Setter Madison Gordon. “We can totally see she’s improved since last year.”

UMD will host the Up North Tournament this weekend, with the first game on against Michigan tech at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.

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