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MARSHALL, Minn. - The No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team snapped its two-match losing skid on Friday night by sweeping Bemidji State at the third annual "Red Out" held in the PE Gym in Marshall. The Mustangs took the match by earning set victories of 25-21, 25-17, 25-14.

The Mustangs hit into just two blocks in the entire match and finished with a solid .299 hitting percentage (33-10-77). Abbey Thissen paced the attack as she finished with 14 kills and a .480 hitting percentage (14-1-25), while Claire Sames followed with 10 kills of her own (10-1-16, .562%).

Emilee Gutzmer returned to the lineup after missing Tuesday's match versus Sioux Falls to finish with 43 assists and four kills. Rachel Westby returned to her natural libero position to rack up 13 digs and lead the SMSU defensive effort.

Things looked bleek in the first set as the Mustangs fell to an early 7-1 hole, something that seemed all too familiar just three nights ago. The Mustangs would turn to Emilee Gutzmer as she rallied the troops to 10 straight points to pull the Mustangs ahead 16-12 -- Gutzmer had two service aces during the rally. Carrying a four point lead and all the momentum, the Mustangs would roll to a 25-21 set victory.

The sluggish starts ended in set two as SMSU would jump out to an 8-4 lead and force a Bemidji State timeout. SMSU would carry the lead throughout the set and would grow the lead to as much as five points when McKell Anderson recorded one of her seven kills in the match to make it 20-15. SMSU would take the set 25-17 on a Jessica Yost attack error.

Set three saw the Mustangs again jump out to an early lead -- this time SMSU owned a 9-3 lead. The turning point in the set was when Sames connected on a solo block of Rachel Craig's attack to make it 14-5. BSU fended off three straight match points late in the set but a very aware Gutzmer attack at the net exploited a hole in the Bemidji State defense and ended the match.

The win gave SMSU its 19th straight victory over Bemidji State dating back to 2003.

SMSU (16-5, 11-2 NSIC) will be back in action tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. as the Mustangs will host Minnesota Crookston.