Box Score

MARSHALL, Minn. - Chelsea Fogarty and Amanda Beekman each had 21 kills to lead No. 14 Minnesota State, Mankato to a 3-2 (23-25, 25-19, 25-22, 19-25, 15-12) victory over No. 10 Southwest Minnesota State Saturday afternoon in Mankato, Minn.

MSU improves to 12-2 (2-0 NSIC), while SMSU drops to 10-4 (0-2 NSIC).

The Mavericks also got 16 kills from Ally Kwikkel.

SMSU was led by Tory Brouwer's 16 kills.  Mary Groth added 15, while Devin Diedrich and Brooke Burmeister finished with 13 and 11, respectively.

Sara Graf dished out 44 assists, and Kenzie Niesche dug up a match-high 24 balls for SMSU, which dropped its second straight conference match.

The Mustangs edged the host Mavericks in the opening set, scoring the final two points, which came courtesy of two MSU mistakes, to break a 23-23 tie and move ahead 1-0.

But MSU would take the next two sets, capitalizing on .075 and .061 hitting performances from the Mustangs to take a 2-1 advantage.

Using runs of 4-0 and 4-1 early in the fourth set, SMSU found itself sporting a comfortable seven-point lead deep into the set.  A Brouwer kill gave the Mustangs a 25-19 set win and forced a fifth set.

MSU opened the final set scoring four unanswered points, but Groth broke into that run and sparked a 4-0 Mustang run to knot the set.  The tie stuck, and with both squads stalemated at 11, the Mavericks went on to score four of the next five points and take the match 3-2.

MSU had 12 blocks to SMSU's nine; the Mavericks also outkilled the Mustangs 69-62, posting a .231 average in the victory.

SMSU continues conference play Tuesday when it travels to No. 1 Concordia University, St. Paul.