Box Score

ST. PAUL, MINN.:  Senior Kasey Loeslie had a career-high 17 kills to help the No. 13 ranked Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team knock off No. 8 Augustana 3-1 (25-19, 25-23, 25-19) in a non-conference match Friday afternoon at the Concordia-St. Paul Classic.

SMSU is now 9-1 on the season; Augustana falls to 7-3.

Loeslie was spectacular in the victory, getting her 17 kills on 28 attempts with just one error for a .571 hitting percentage.  She also added four blocks.

Senior Laura Hegerle and freshman Devin Diedrich each chipped in eight kills to help anchor a balanced hitting attack for the Mustangs.

Junior Sara Graf continued her solid setting streak, recording a match-high 37 assists.

Defensively, it was senior Sarah Quiram who again led the Mustangs in digs with a match-high 19.  The libero has led SMSU in digs in every match but one the past two weekends.

Sporting brand new bleach-white jersey's, SMSU opened the match neck and neck with the Augustana, but the Mustangs again used strong hitting to gather steam and take the first set.

That momentum, however, did not seem to carry over to the second set, when the Mustangs could not pull away from the Vikings.  The two nationally ranked teams went back and forth before SMSU was able to take a definitive two point advantage.

The Mustangs opened the third and final set by scoring five straight points and never looked back by holding onto at least a three point lead for the remainder of the set.

This was No. 8 Augustana's second loss of the day as the Vikings lost to unranked Alaska-Anchorage in its first match of the day.

SMSU is back in action tomorrow as it takes on Central Washington at 9 a.m. and No. 5 Truman State (Mo.) at 3 p.m.