Box Score

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Devin Diedrich tallied a match-high 15 kills and aced a career-high four serves to lead No. 12 Southwest Minnesota State to a 3-1 (25-23, 24-26, 25-23, 25-17) victory over Augustana Saturday morning at the Radisson-Roseville/Concordia University Tournament in St. Paul, Minn.

SMSU improves to 9-2, while Augie drops to 5-6.

The Mustangs also got double-figure kills from Tory Brouwer, who finished with 12, Mary Groth, who recorded 11, and Crissi Schewe, who had 10.  A nine-kill performance from Brooke Burmeister rounded out a balanced offensive attack from the Mustangs.

Sara Graf had 48 assists on the morning, also tacking 10 digs, four kills and a pair of service aces.

Libero Kenzie Niesche dug up a team-high 20 balls in the win.

Despite committing five service errors in the opening set, SMSU managed to squeak out a 25-23 win. That was largely in part to explosive play from Diedrich, who killed eight balls and posted a .429 average to help the Mustangs retain the small lead they had built early.

Ten ties were featured in the second set, the last of which came at 24-24 before two Mustang mistakes, a Brouwer attack error and a bad set by Niesche, allowed the Vikings to score the final two points and take the set. SMSU's hitters managed an inefficient .042 hitting percentage, which didn't look good juxtaposed next to a .368 performance by the Mustangs in the set prior.

After trailing to open the third set, SMSU eventually managed to break into the Viking lead and tie the set at 13-13 when Brouwer aced a serve. The ace sparked the Mustangs; after taking the lead via an Augie attack error on the next play, SMSU held a lead for the remainder of the set. A pair of assisted blocks from Diedrich and Schewe kept that drive alive, and a kill from Diedrich closed the set and moved the Mustangs ahead 2-1.

From there, SMSU would mostly cruise, opening the fourth and final set on a 6-1 run behind the serving of Niesche and Tomomi Sakurai. One attack error from the Mustangs in that set keyed the win.

Nine service aces from the Mustangs was countered with an equally impressive serving campaign from Augie, which finished with eight aces of their own.

SMSU finishes play in the CU Tournament against Dowling (N.Y.) at 7 p.m.