Kaylyn Madison and the Bulldogs look to string together another pair of NSIC wins this weekend

DULUTH, MN. (Northern News Now) - Led by Head Coach Jim Boos, the seventh-ranked UMD volleyball team welcome league play for the first time at home this weekend.

The 9-1 Bulldogs are coming back home on a four-game winning streak after sweeping their first pair of NSIC teams on the road last weekend.

UMD’s offense hit roughly .400 as a team and kept both of their opponents to a .067 hitting efficiency, thanks to some stellar Bulldog defense led by back-to-back NSIC defensive player of the week Kaylyn Madison.

Despite the Bulldog’s recent successes on both sides of the ball, this weekend will bring in two brand-new tests; Northern State’s top-tier defense and Moorhead’s newly energized leadership.

“In both cases, we need to stay in system,” Coach Boos said. “Northern State is certainly a very difficult serving team, they can really pressure you from the service line. We need to be able to handle that and maintain our ability to run tempo. That was a big reason for our success this weekend. Serve recieve was solid, tempo from pin to pin was really good.”

“This weekend, I just think we are just playing our game, regardless of who’s on the other side,” UMD Libro Kaylyn Madison said. “They are going to keep more balls up than this past weekend, so just being able to keep firing and finding new options if the shot that we usually hit is they’re digging. It’s just being adaptable to who we are going to play.”

First serve against Northern State is set for Friday at 6 p.m.

This one will be broadcast on our my9 sports network.

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