Box Score

MARSHALL, MINN.:  Laura Hegerle had 19 kills and Sara Graf had 55 assists to lead No. 9 Southwest Minnesota State over Minnesota State, Mankato 3-1 (25-21, 25-14, 23-25, 31-29) in SMSU's home opener in Marshall Saturday afternoon.

SMSU improves to 13-1 (2-0 NSIC), while Minnesota State drops to 5-8 (0-2 NSIC).

Hegerle's 19 kills was a part of a three-headed hitting monster that took the court for the Mustangs; senior Kasey Loeslie killed another 16 balls, and junior Tory Brouwer, another 13.  Devin Diedrich also got in the act with  eight kills.

Defensively, senior Sarah Quiram led the Mustangs with a match-high 21 digs.

SMSU had control of the match tempo in sets one and two, leading by as many as 11 in the latter set; however, Minnesota State took advantage of a few sloppy hitting errors by the Mustangs late in the third set to win by two.

A back-and-forth battle emerged in the closing moments of the fourth and final set, but SMSU rattled off three straight points to seal the victory.

Minnesota State was led by Ashley Nachreiner's 11 kills and Alecia Fruechte's 14 digs.

A full PE Gym welcomed the Mustang volleyball squad for the conference match with over 800 people watching SMSU win its 12th straight match.

SMSU is back in action on Tuesday at 7 p.m. when they face No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul.  It's "Rock the PE" night at SMSU.