DENVER, Colo. - No. 14 Southwest Minnesota State won its first two matches of the 2013 Colorado Premier Challenge on Friday with wins over Adams State and No. 17 West Florida. SMSU (4-2) defeated Adams State 3-1 (25-20, 25-27, 25-23, 25-17) and UWF in five sets (25-20, 25-22, 30-32, 20-25, 15-7).
In the match versus Adams State,
Whitney Burmeister's 15 kills led SMSU to victory. Burmeister led SMSU with 15 kills;
McKell Anderson (12),
Claire Sames (13) and
Abbey Thissen (10) also tallied double-digit kill totals.
In the match versus West Florida, SMSU came out firing on all cylinders and took the first two sets. The Mustangs stumbled out of the gate in set three but mounted a big comeback to tie the set up at 16. SMSU trailed 16-11 and managed to string together five straight points. The set would go back-and-forth before West Florida finally converted on set point.
The momentum remained on UWF's side throughout set four as the Argonauts cruised to a 25-20 set victory to force the final set. SMSU rebounded in set five by pouncing early which led to a 15-7 set victory.
The pair of wins boosted SMSU to 4-2 overall. SMSU will be back in action tomorrow and opponents and match times will be released shortly once seedings of the final rounds. SMSU went 2-0 in pool III and will be playing in the "gold" division and will be pitted against No. 1 University of Tampa at 10:30 central time.
