Mustangs Lose To Concordia in NCAA Regional Semifinals

Box Score

DULUTH, MINN.: No. 2 seed Concordia St. Paul had a .317 hitting percentage and were led by Emily Palkert's 17 kills in the 3-0 (30-28, 30-15, 30-28) victory over No. 3 seed Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs on Friday in the NCAA Regional Semifinals in Duluth, Minn.

The Mustangs conclude their season with a 26-8 overall record while Concordia advances to the championship game with a record of 32-4 and will face the winner of the Minnesota-Duluth versus University of Nebraska-Omaha match.

"Concordia's ability to handle the ball, serve receive wise and defensively was our downfall," Head coach Terry Culhane said.

CSP had 49 digs in the match compared to the Mustangs 40 but tallied 59 kills and a .317 hitting percentage while holding SMSU to just 38 kills and a .175 hitting percentage.

The Mustangs were led by Leah Ashburn who had 12 kills and a .417 hitting percentage. She was the only SMSU player to record double-digit kills in the match. Krystal Schwanke and Laura Hegerle each had seven. Seniors Erin Contons and Tricia Ingvalson recorded six and five kills, respectively.

On defense the Mustangs were led by Sarah Quriam who had 13. Sara Graf was second with seven. Graf recorded 32 set assists while she holds the single season set assists record at SMSU with a total of 1,671 set assists in the 2007 season.

The Mustangs, who competed in its fourth consecutive NCAA tournament end the season with a 26-8 overall record while finishing second in the NSIC with a 15-3 conference record.

Erin Contons and Krystal Schwanke	Sarah Quiram
Tricia Ingvalson, Laura Hegerle and Leah Ashburn	Krystal Schwanke goes up against two Concordia blockers

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