BISMARCK, ND - The University of Mary wasn't able to keep up with No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth dropping its fifth straight match as the Bulldogs secured the 3-0 (23-25, 19-25 and 17-25) Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory.
 
Junior outside hitter Lauren Randall collected 15 kills, seven kills and finished with a .250 hitting percentage. Senior outside hitter Thayna Silva finished with nine kills and nine digs for the Blue & Orange.
 
And for the 11th time this season, senior setter Janell Finkbeiner finished with a match with 30-plus assists.
 
Mary (7-10, 2-6 NSIC) jumped off to an early 5-3 lead in the first set after a Silva kill and continued to lead the Bulldogs (16-0, 8-0 NSIC) into the middle of the set. UMD trailed 12-11 but scored the next four points to pull ahead 15-12.
 
The Marauders called a timeout to collect themselves but the Bulldogs continued its run, taking a late 20-15 lead. However, Mary scored the next four points to pull with one point (20-19) and after a Randall kill and a UMD attacking error the score was tied at 21-21. The Bulldogs received kills from Sarah Kelly and Sydnie Mauch to pull ahead 24-21 and held on for the set win.
 
Kelly finished with 16 kills and Mauch tagged on 11 more kills for the visiting.
 
UMD hit a match-high .438 in the first set.
 
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in the second set but the Marauders went on a nice 7-0 run to take an early 9-5 lead.
 
 But the undefeated Bulldogs responded by scoring six straight points, however, Mary hung tough and received a late kill by Rachel Astrup to take a 17-16 lead.
 
UMD went on another late scoring run and took a 20-17 lead before Mary had to take a timeout.
 
Mary only scored two more points after the late timeout and Allison Olley scored the set winning kill for the Bulldogs.
 
Olley finished with 11 kills and had a hitting percentage of .600 while teammate Mauch finished with a team-high .786 hitting percentage.
 
The third set seemed to be a breeze early on for the Bulldogs as they took a commanding 10-4 lead and seemed to have the Marauders buried late in the set, leading 18-12. Mary tried to stir something up trailing 21-15 but the Bulldogs received the last seven points off seven kills to win its eighth NSIC match of the year.
 
UMD as a team finished with a .430 attacking percentage as the Marauders dipped just below .200 with a .198 attacking percentage.
 
Mary will try to break its losing streak at 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, when St. Cloud State comes to town.

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