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MARSHALL, Minn. - The No. 3 Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team defeated No. 6 Concordia University, St. Paul in a non-conference match in four sets by scores of 25-19, 25-27, 25-16 and 26-24. This is the first win over Concordia-St. Paul in Marshall since the 2001 season. The Mustangs last defeated the Golden Bears at Concordia in 2007. SMSU improves 12-2 while Concordia-St. Paul falls to 10-4.

Southwest Minnesota State was led by sophomore Brooke Burmeister. The outside hitter picked up 18 kills for the Mustangs with a .317 hitting percentage in front of a big home crowd for the Mustangs. Mary Groth had 14 kills for SMSU while hitting .429 percent.

The two teams put on a show for the crowd at the PE gym. There were 13 tie scores and six lead changes in the first set. The Mustangs came out on top in the first set 25-19. With the score 21-19 in favor of SMSU, the Mustangs rallied off four straight points to win the first set. The Golden Bears covered Devin Diedrich closely allowing Burmeister and Groth to terminate the ball all over the court.

Southwest Minnesota State started out the second set with a 7-0 run behind the serve of freshman Rachel Westby. The defensive specialist ended the match with two service aces and 15 digs. She also put up eight kills for SMSU.

After the big run for the Mustangs, Concordia University took a timeout and came back to tie the score at 12-12. The two teams went point for point for the remainder of the second set with the Golden Bears fighting off the Mustangs and taking a 27-25 win in set number two.

Cara Carson continued to duel with Concordia's Kayla Koenecke for the NSIC and NCAA Division II lead in set assists. Carson came out on top with 43 set assists for the Mustangs. She also added four kills on the night.

The Mustangs went on two six-point runs in the third set the first coming from Westby's serve the other at the hand of Kenzie Niesche. Niesche had three service aces on the night to go along with her 15 digs. Southwest Minnesota State out blocked the Golden Bears tonight nine to seven. Burmeister had four block assists for SMSU while Groth picked up three and Diedrich notched two solo and two block assists. Diedrich ended the match with 11 kills for SMSU.

It took four sets for the Mustangs to take down the Golden Bears--for the first time since 2007--with Concordia battling back the whole night. The fourth set saw 13 tie scores and five lead changes. There were 35 total tie scores and 16 total lead changes in the match.

The Mustangs picked up an emotional non-conference win over the Golden Bears having to battle for every point. The fourth set took extra points but SMSU came out on top 26-24.

Southwest Minnesota State opened a five-match homestand tonight with its win over Concordia University, The Mustangs will welcome MSU-Moorhead on Friday at 7 p.m. SMSU will then host Minnesota, Crookston on homecoming at 3 p.m. in the PE Gym on Saturday.