BOX SCORE

MARSHALL, Minn. - Mary Groth led No. 3 Southwest Minnesota State to a 3-0 sweep over Minnesota State University Moorhead by scores of 25-13, 25-14 and 25-17. The Mustangs improve to 13-2, 5-1 NSIC while the Dragons fall to 6-8, 2-4 NSIC.

Groth led the Mustangs to a sweep over the Dragons tonight. The sophomore had 17 kills and a .630 hitting percentage. Groth is no stranger to having big games against MSU-Moorhead. Just last year Groth led the Mustangs to a 3-0 sweep over the Dragons with 15 kills.

Devin Diedrich also provided the Mustangs with a balanced offensive attack. The middle blocker finished the match with 12 kills and a .348 hitting percentage.

Southwest Minnesota State came out with a hot hand in the first set jumping out to a ten point lead at 13-3. The Mustangs got five kills out of Groth and hard-hitting Brooke Burmeister in the first set. The Mustangs went on to win the first set by a commanding score of 25-13.

Cara Carson led the Mustangs with 37 set assists in tonight's match. The junior setter also picked up 9 digs allowing freshman Abby Meyers to pick up five assists of her own tonight.

The Dragons gave the Mustangs a tough second set matching SMSU point-for-point up until Southwest Minnesota State was able to pick up three-point runs to take a 20-13 lead. The Mustangs ended the second set on a four-point run ending on a MSUM attack error to win the second set 25-14.

Kenzie Niesche led the Mustang defense with 13 digs. Behind Niesche and Carson, freshman Rachel Westby picked up eight digs of her own. Westby also notched four kills for SMSU.

This marks the sixth consecutive win for the Mustangs over the Dragons. SMSU is now 51-46 in the all-time series with MSUM. This was the ninth match this season that Southwest Minnesota State has swept its opponent.

Southwest Minnesota State will pick up Northern Sun action tomorrow afternoon when they host Minnesota, Crookston at 3 p.m. at the PE gym to kick-off the athletic portion of the homecoming festivities at SMSU.