DULUTH, Minn. — In a season that saw the Arkansas Tech volleyball team capture a second consecutive Great American Conference title, a third trip to the NCAA tournament in four seasons and a winning streak of 21 straight matches, it didn't see a team like Minnesota Duluth.

For the second straight season, the Golden Suns (29-6) traveled north to take on the top seed in the opening round of the Central Region tournament, falling to the Bulldogs (32-1) in three sets, 25-17, 25-13, 25-23, at Romano Gymnasium.

After UMD used big runs to take the first two sets and earn a comfortable lead in the third, Tech quickly put a scare into the No. 2 team in the nation. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 10-3 advantage, but the Suns responded by scoring 13 of the next 17 points to take a 16-14 lead as Duluth called its last timeout. After a five-point run from the Bulldogs, Tech called its final timeout and proceeded to climb back into the lead at 23-22 before the hosts closed the match with three straight points.

"Being here a year ago in the same situation, against Duluth that was the No. 1 seed and us as the eighth seed, I'm definitely more pleased with our performance tonight than I was 365 days ago," Golden Suns coach Kristy Bayer said. "I think that, each time we come here, we gain the experience and we perform a little bit better.

"I think [Minnesota Duluth] Coach [Jim] Boos had to call a couple of timeouts in that third set. We made it close."

The Golden Suns used their play at the net to help even the match, earning 3.5 blocks during that final set and 7.5 on the night, getting a challenge up often against UMD's attack. Katie Huff posted four blocks on the night, with Kaci Jackson adding three and Emily Todd, McCall Wilkins and Kaylee Konsella picking up a pair.

Todd put up eight kills and nine digs in the final match of her Tech career. Fellow senior Sierra Nighswonger posted 18 assists and hit .400 on her way to five kills, including three in the final set.

"I think it was pretty much just all-out effort," Todd said of the final set. "It showed our team chemistry. We don't really give up. I think, if anything, we were more aggressive, because we have nothing to lose.

"We weren't lacking confidence. We thought we had as great a chance as anybody had at this tournament."

After Arkansas Tech tied the score at 3-all early in the first set, UMD went on a run, scoring six straight points and 14 of the next 18 to take control. The Golden Suns helped the Bulldogs with seven errors in that stretch, and had 12 on the set. Tech picked up the pace over the rest of the set, getting five kills and three blocks to push the hosts until the end.

Todd paced the Golden Suns in the first set, picking up 3 kills on .286 hitting and adding a solo block. Jackson, Konsella and Huff added a pair of kills each, with Huff adding two of her blocks. Nighswonger posted seven assists and three digs.
                                          
After Tech took its first lead of the match at 5-4 early in the second set, the Bulldogs ran off 10 of the next 12 points to steal the momentum back. After a brief run for the Golden Suns, thanks to a service error and a pair of kills from Konsella, UMD took nine of the final 12 points to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Todd picked up two more kills and four digs in the second, while Madison Nagel added three of her 11 digs on the night and McCall Wilkins put up two kills and a block.