No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth 3, Bemidji State 0
BEMIDJI, Minn. -- No. 1 Minnesota- Duluth remained unbeaten in 2013 with a sweep of Bemidji State on Saturday afternoon.
UMD (11-0, 2-0 NSIC) made quick work of its conference foe, beating the Beavers by set scores of 25-11, 25-16, and 25-14. Senior outside hitter Kate Lange had 18 kills and one solo block in the match, accounting for 20 points as UMD hit .337 as a team. Sophomore Mariah Scharf saw the most action of her season and came away with nine kills for second on the Bulldogs.
Defensively, UMD held the Beavers to just a .114 hitting percentage. Junior libero Julie Rainey had 17 digs in the match while junior Katie Ledwell added 12 of her own, as well as three service aces. Sophomore setter Ashley Hinsch had 37 of the team's 43 assists. Continuing a trend of starting the Bulldogs on scoring runs during her serve, sophomore defensive specialist Sheenagh Caroline added three service aces in the match.
No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul 3, Winona State 0
WINONA, Minn. -- No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul (10-1, 2-0 NSIC) completed the weekend sweep with a consecutive-set victory against the Winona State Warriors (3-8, 0-2 NSIC). The Golden Bears extended their win streak to 22 against the Warriors. CU has now won 16 consecutive NSIC regular season matches.
The Warriors hung with the Golden Bears early in the first set, cutting the CU lead to 11-9 on a kill from Alli Glisch. Concordia responded by scoring the next 10 points to put the game away. CU took the set 25-12. The Golden Bears held the Warriors to just -.041 hitting in the first.
No. 5 Nebraska-Kearney 3, Central Oklahoma 0
KEARNEY, Neb. -- Senior Katie Sokolowski and junior Liz McGowan combined for 25 kills to help fifth-ranked Nebraska-Kearney sweep a talented Central Oklahoma squad 3-0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-23) on Saturday night at the Health & Sports Center.
UNK improves to 11-1 (3-0 MIAA) and is now 9-0 all-time vs. the Bronchos (10-1, 2-1).
The Lopers closed out the night thanks to a kill by freshman middle Bailey Sokolowski and UCO's 23rd error of the match.
Individually, Sokolowski had 12 kills with McGowan having 11 and nine digs. Ashley Leitner had 16 digs and nine kills with sophomore libero MJ Massanet at a match-high 21 digs.
No. 6 Central Missouri 3, Lindenwood 1
Warrensburg, Mo. -- Central Missouri (11-0, 3-0 MIAA) won their first MIAA road game of the season in four sets, 25-18 27-25 25-16 25-18. Lindenwood, 3-9, 0-2 MIAA, is only the second team to force four sets against the Jennies this season.
Lindenwood led the Jennies in the first set, until the Jennies won ten of twelve points to take the lead at 14-10. The Jennies allowed only one more point from Lindenwood before pulling in four more points.
The seven point gap was too large for the Lions to close, the Jennies earned their final six points one at a time, before a serving error by Lindenwood finished the game. Becca Blaise, Carly Sojka, and Taylor Goodness all finished the first set with four kills each.
No. 10 Southwest Minnesota State 3, No. 7 Wayne State (Neb.) 0
Service errors proved to be costly for the No. 7 Wayne State on Saturday afternoon in a 3-1 Northern Sun Conference volleyball setback at No. 10 Southwest Minnesota State.
Scores of the match were 25-21, 23-25, 25-21 and 25-18. It was the first loss of the season for the Wildcats, now 9-1 on the season and 1-1 in the NSIC, while Southwest Minnesota State improves to 7-3 overall and 2-0 in league play.
The host Mustangs captured the first set 25-21, but WSC hit a match-high .371 in the second set with 16 kills and just three attack errors to pick up a 25-23 win and even the match at 1-1. SMSU used 17 kills in the third set to edge the Wildcats 25-21 while WSC had eight attack errors in the fourth set as the Mustangs posted a 25-18 win while taking the match 3-1.
No. 18 Sonoma State 3, No. 8 UC San Diego 1
ROHNERT PARK, Calif. -- Caylie Seitz enjoyed one of the most prolific nights on offense in the history of Sonoma State, smashing 29 kills en route to a blazing .565 hitting percentage with just three errors in 46 attacks as the 18th-ranked Seawolves came from behind to hand eighth-ranked UC San Diego its first loss of the season, 3-1 on Saturday night at The Wolves' Den.
The 29 kills by Seitz shattered SSU's record for most kills in a four-set match, topping the previous mark of 24. She only got hotter as the night went on, recording six kills in each of the first two sets before slamming eight kills to the floor in the third set and adding nine more in the fourth and final set. In fact, Seitz was nearly unstoppable in the Seawolves' match-clinching fourth set -- she had nine kills in 12 swings without committing a single error, a hitting percentage of .750. Seitz also rejected four attacks, two of which were solo blocks.
Sonoma State, the No. 18 team going into this weekend, improves to 8-2 overall and 1-1 in the CCAA. Meanwhile, UC San Diego, which came into the night undefeated and ranked at No. 8 in the AVCA poll, drops to 9-1 overall and 1-1 in conference play. The Tritons entered Saturday's contest having lost just two sets in their first nine matches of the season.
No. 9 Angelo State 3, Cameron 0
SAN ANGELO, Texas -- Leah McWilliams had 16 kills and a .382 hitting percentage to help lead No. 9 Angelo State to a dominant Lone Star Conference sweep of Cameron on Saturday at the Junell Center.
The Belles (8-2, 2-0 LSC) only trailed twice the entire match and had a .264 hitting percentage while limiting the Aggies (4-7, 0-3 LSC) to a -.008 hitting percentage. ASU has now won 23 consecutive regular-season home matches and eight consecutive matches against CU.
McWilliams established a new career high with her 16 kills and she also contributed five digs and two blocks. Arielle Bond, a day after having 24 kills against Midwestern State, had 10 digs and a .391 hitting percentage. Junior setter Maggi Jo Keffury orchestrated a strong offense attack with 37 assists and also added eight digs on defense.
