Cianna Selbitschka’s serving prowess propels UMD to 3-1 start

While a 3-0 loss marked the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) volleyball team’s return to the court last week, the Bulldogs haven’t let that set the tone for this season.

They quickly came back notching three straight wins to close out the Michigan Tech Tournament 3-1. Their rally was fueled in part by sophomore Cianna Selbitschka.

"I’ve never had that many aces ever it felt like," Selbitschka said. "I’d think that if I was getting down in the front row I would need to pick up in the back row. I still need to be there for my team, I still need to lead in any way that I can."

In all four of their matches so far, Selbitschka led the team in kills averaging over 13 a game. Twice she tallied double digit digs, plus tallied 14 serving aces.

Head Coach Jim Boos said that this serving power was their key to getting back on track offensively.

"I was really impressed with how well we served, not only in how aggressive we were with 32 aces, but the fact that we were able to do it without making as many errors as maybe you would think. To have 32 aces with 16 errors, we made the other side very uncomfortable. That allowed us to transition a lot more often and run some in-system offense."

Next UMD serves up the Wisconsin-Parkside Tournament on Friday facing Lake Superior State University.