#10 Bulldogs Gear Up for Pair of Home-Floor Challenges

Hosting Minnesota State Mankato, #2 Concordia St. Paul

DULUTH, Minn.- UMD’s volleyball team knows they’ll be put to the test this week with two inner-state challengers rolling into town.

On Friday, the tenth-ranked Bulldogs will host Minnesota State Mankato before taking on #2 Concordia St. Paul. UMD has had mixed results against ranked teams this season. However, they defeated #8 St. Cloud State on the road in four sets last Thursday.

The Bulldogs are expected to have big crowds in support of their Pink Weekend, and head coach Jim Boos is hoping his players can feed off that energy.

“When you’re at home, it gives you that kind of extra push you need when things aren’t going perfectly to maybe get out of that funk and maybe make that next push you need to make, so hoping for a good-sized crowds on both evenings that can help us push through those tough moments.”

Meanwhile, Coach Boos pointed out some of the keys to victory for both Friday and Saturday. “We need to get everybody the ball equally, we cannot be outside hitter dependent and think we can beat the high-level opponents we’re going to play this weekend so, that’s a big part of what we’re working on this week. ”

The Bulldogs will take the floor against Minnesota State Mankato at 6 p.m. on Friday. The next day, they’ll face Concordia St. Paul at 2 p.m.