BOX SCORE
WINONA, Minn. – No. 9 Southwest Minnesota State held Winona State to .008 attack percentage and 25 kills in the match on its way to a 25-23, 25-14, 25-10 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action on Friday night in Winona. SMSU improves to 16-6 overall, 10-3 in the NSIC while Winona State falls to 13-9, 7-6 NSIC.
SMSU has now won seven straight matches over Winona State.
Mary Groth led Southwest Minnesota State with 15 kills, finishing the match with a .406 attack percentage committing just two errors.
Brooke Burmeister was SMSU's only other player to reach double-digits in kills finishing with 11. Burmeister also picked up 15 digs in the match, recording her 10th double-double of the season.
The two teams battled back-and-forth in the first set with SMSU coming out on top 25-23. Trailing 10-13 in the first, the Mustangs went on a five-point run to take a 15-13 lead over the Warriors. From there, WSU fought back to take a 20-18 lead before SMSU took seven of the last 10 points in the set.
After playing to a 6-6 score in the second set, the Mustangs pulled away with the set taking 14 of the next 19 points. SMSU began a five-point run after consecutive kills by Groth. The Mustangs would benefit from two three-point runs taking a 20-11 lead in the set. SMSU won the third set on Groth's 13th kill of the match.
Brittany Wenzel led SMSU with 18 digs in the match while sophomore
Rachel Westby added 15 digs for SMSU. Senior setter
Cara Carson finished the match with 35 set assists and nine digs.
Southwest Minnesota State overwhelmed the Warriors in the final set grabbing 16 of the first 18 points in the set. SMSU used six and seven-point runs jumping out to a large 16-2 lead. The Mustangs held on to win the third set 25-10.
SMSU finished the match with five service aces and seven team blocks. Freshman middle blocker
Alyssa Taylor led SMSU with one solo, and five block assists on the night.
Southwest Minnesota State will travel to Fayette, Iowa to take on Upper Iowa tomorrow afternoon beginning at 3 p.m.
