Box Score

MARSHALL, Minn. - The No. 12-ranked Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 match deficit and avoided a near upset to defeat unranked Bemidji State 3-2 (24-26, 17-25, 25-16, 25-23, 15-10) Friday morning at the Radisson-Roseville/Concordia University tournament in St. Paul.

SMSU improves to 7-2, while BSU drops to 3-6.

The marathon match saw five Mustang hitters eclipse double figures in kills; Devin Diedrich led SMSU with a match-high 19, while Mary Groth had 18, Crissi Schewe tallied 13, Tory Brouwer added 12 and Brooke Burmeister contributed 10.

Kenzie Niesche and Tomomi Sakurai shored up SMSU's back row and combined for 63 digs on the morning.

Sara Graf recorded a season-high 64 assists and directed an offense that outkilled the Beavers 79-60.

BSU looked up to the task of knocking off the nationally ranked Mustangs throughout, never trailing in a close opening set.  SMSU did tie the set late three times, including a 24-24 lock, but the Beavers capitalized on a Diedrich attack error and used a Nicole Solum kills to move ahead 1-0.

Stalemated at 14-14 in the ensuing set, BSU went to work with a 11-2 run to finish the set and go ahead 2-0.  The match deficit was one the Mustangs have never recovered from this season.

Schewe sparked a Mustang comeback in the third set, getting the Mustangs to within one at 14-13 before SMSU finally took a 15-14 lead.  With her squad nursing a four-point advantage at 18-14, Schewe proceeded to score five of the next seven points with four kills and a service ace.  Kills from Diedrich and Burmeister capped the Mustang surge and set win.

The Beavers, however, did anything but move out of the way of the fresh Mustang charge.  BSU built itself a four-point lead at 20-16 and looked poised to move ahead with the set and match victory.  But SMSU scored five answered points just moments later to make it 22-22.  After one more tie at 23-23, SMSU kept a comeback effort alive with a Diedrich kill and BSU attack error.

The forced fifth set sat stalemated at 7-7 before SMSU, behind the hitting of Brouwer, pulled ahead for the 15-10 win.

SMSU hit .230 for the match--that solid hitting performance highlighted by .400 and .450 outings in the third and fifth sets.  BSU, on the other hand, struggled late, hitting under .200 for its final three sets.

Nicole Olson's 17 kills and Courtney Bitter's career-high 52 assists led the Beavers.

SMSU will play Minnesota Duluth today at 5 p.m.