DULUTH, Minn.- The No. 14 Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team (19-6 overall, 11-6 NSIC) held off the feisty Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth (17-9, 9-8) 26-24, 25-23, 25-18 on Friday night in Duluth. 
 
Angela Young led the offense with 16 kills while Meg Schmidt added 12 kills, six digs, and five assists. Payton Hjerleid and Rachel Fink combined for 21 digs to lead the way defensively, with Katelyn Nichols adding four blocks. 
 
Set one saw a 4-4 set turn into a 9-5 SMSU advantage to force an early UMD timeout. UMD would respond with a 7-3 run of their own to even things up at 12-12. The game would see ties at 13-13 and 14-14, but SMSU would never trail, eventually growing a 22-18 lead to force the second UMD timeout. The Bulldogs would score three straight points after the timeout to narrow the lead to 22-21 and score three of the next five points to even the score at 24-24. SMSU would extinguish UMD's fire with kills from Young and Schmidt to win the first set. 
 
The second set saw UMD take a 2-1 lead before SMSU scored seven of eight points to take an 8-3 lead. The lead would linger to 17-14, but UMD would score four unanswered points to take an 18-17 lead. Their lead would carry to 23-22, but SMSU would close the set on a 3-0 run highlighted by a Young kill, Nichols block, and a UMD attach error to give them a 2-0 lead into the third set. 
 
UMD scored the first point of the third set before SMSU would ignite. The Mustangs scored the next four points to take a 4-1 lead and would score six of 11 points afterwards to lead 10-5. UMD scored the next four points to cut the SMSU lead to 10-9. The teams split the next four points followed by 10 of 14 points going the SMSU direction to give them a 20-14 lead. The Mustangs finished the set with five of nine points to close the set and match
 
SMSU outhit UMD .259-.127, while recording 41 kills to UMD's 40. 
 
SMSU is back in action Saturday afternoon, taking on St. Cloud State in St. Cloud at 2 p.m.