By: Joe Hansen

Tournament Website

Wayne, Neb, - For the third-straight match, the University of Minnesota Duluth fell behind after the opening set and rallied as the Bulldogs knocked off No. 8 Wayne State ]on the road in the quarterfinal round of the NSIC Tournament in Wayne, Nebraska.

Learning earlier today it was still outside of the NCAA Tournament field according to the NCAA II Central Region Rankings, No. 7 UMD (23-7) knew it needed to keep winning and they did so in payback fashion with its second-straight victory against a team that had defeated the Bulldogs earlier in the season. They'll look to do the same next as the team heads to St. Paul for the next round of the tournament and a date with longtime rival and No. 1-ranked Concordia University, St. Paul.

The offense has rolled through Mariah Scharf seemingly as much as senior setter Ashley Hinsch during the Bulldogs' seven-match winning streak, and the same proved true on Wednesday night as the senior outside hitter knocked down a career-high 31 kills. It was also the second-straight match that Scharf had collected 30 or more kills.

UMD put together its best game offensively in the second set, answering back after a 25-23 defeat in game one with a victory of the same score, hitting .306 in the process. The Bulldogs excelled on defense on the night, holding No. 8 Wayne State (24-7) to just a .158 hitting percentage after the Wildcats had really frustrated UMD last time out.  The Bulldogs collected more kills in each set than the Wildcats, but doomed themselves in the first set with 11 errors. They'd have 20 the rest of the way, compared to just 16 total for Wayne State, but limited the Wildcats to 12 or fewer kills in each set including nine in a 25-20 game three and 10 in a 25-21 game four.

Hinsch collected three service aces to go with her 62 assists on the night. After Scharf, the drop-off was not as steep as previous games with junior middle blocker Sydnie Mauch continuing a hot streak of her own with 20 kills to go with six blocks. Senior middle Monica Turner and junior outside hitter Taylor Wissbroecker played a role in four and three blocks, respectively, as the two teams combined for 24 total blocks on the night (12 each).

Wissbroecker led the way with 22 digs, while first-year libero Erin Schindler grabbed 20 and sophmore defensive specialist Kelly Madison 19. On the other side, All-NSIC senior outside hitter Katie Hughes had 17 kills to lead the Wildcats while all-conference junior middle Alyssa Frauendorfer was the only other player to reach double digits in that category with 10. Wayne State's All-NSIC senior setter Leisa McClintock had 34 assists and NSIC Libero of the Year, senior Courtney Van Groningen had 18 digs, second on the team to Michaela Mestl.

The Bulldogs were not the only team to earn an 'upset' as a lower seed Wednesday as sixth-seed No. 20 Winona State University knocked off No. 4 Northern State University in straight sets. Eight-seed Minnesota State University and seven-seed No. 24 Augustana (S.D.) University each took top-seed Concordia and No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State University, respectively, to five games.  Winona State and Southwest Minnesota State will meet on the other side of the bracket on Saturday afternoon in St. Paul, with the winner advancing to the NSIC Tournament Championship match against the UMD/CU Winner.

Opening serve between the Bulldogs and Golden Bears is set for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.