BISMARCK, N.D. - For the final home match for both the regular season and seniors Casey Reamann and Paige Smith, the University of Mary Volleyball team took on #10 University of Minnesota Duluth to wrap up the next-to-last week of NSIC action.
 
The Marauders (11-16, 6-12 NSIC) had their hands full early against the Bulldogs (20-7, 13-5 NSIC) with the nationally ranked team coming away with the sweep at 25-12, 25-15, and 25-17 over U-Mary.
 
The Marauders are no strangers to championship caliber play as the top four teams in the country all hail from the Northern Sun, and they certainly got another dose of it early in the first set as the Bulldogs opened up the match on an 8-2 run. U-Mary had little opportunity to slow down Minnesota Duluth's attack as the visitors built up their lead to 17-6 midway through the set.
 
U-Mary's offense struggled to get in gear from that point as the Bulldogs took the first set at 25-12.
 
The offensive woes continued in the second set for the Marauders as Minnesota Duluth rallied off a 4-1 run early on, but U-Mary fought tooth-and-nail to narrow the gap back down to 11-10 run midway through.  The Bulldogs couldn't be stopped, however, as they fired off another 7-1 run to build up the cushion at 18-11, and eventually coasted to a 25-15 win in the second set.
 
U-Mary started to find a potent combination in the third set as they stuck hot on Minnesota Duluth's heels halfway through the set at 13-12 in favor of the visitors. The Bulldogs pulled off a 4-1 run at that point to extend their lead at 17-13, but the Marauders responded quickly with two points of their own to close back in at 17-15.
 
Unfortunately, the offense ended up stalling as the Bulldogs rallied off a 5-1 run to put the match near the brink at 22-16 and closed the scoring with three of the next four points to hand U-Mary another sweep at 25-17.
 
Alexis Jacobs tried to recapture the magic from last night as she finished with 10 kills and five digs on the afternoon.
 
Rachel Astrup and Elizabeth Garcia were there to help as Astrup ended with three kills and four block assists, while Garcia earned four kills and two block assists.
 
Katelyn Olson steered the offense with 22 assists to go with two block assists, while Alex Brown provided the defensive look on the backline with 13 digs.
 
The Marauders will wrap up the regular season on the road next week they face Bemidji State University and the University of Minnesota, Crookston, in rematches starting on Friday, November 13.
 
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