LOUISVILLE, Ky. —  The Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team rallied from down two sets in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Championship to take a dramatic 3-2 win over Sonoma State (Calif.) by scores of 24-26, 25-23, 25-21, 25-20, 15-6 at Knights Gym on the campus of Bellarmine University.

Southwest Minnesota State will now face Grand Valley State (Mich.) in the national semifinals on Friday at 2 p.m. CST.

SMSU not only trailed 2-0 in the match, but also faced deficits of 8-1 and 19-14 in set three, before rallying to win the set and go on to win the final two sets.

Four Mustangs recorded double figures in kills during the comeback, led by Kenzie Beekman with 13, while hitting .281. Claire Sames added 11 kills, while Eisha Oden and Megan Larson each tallied 10 kills.

Larson had a big day offensively as she set a new career-high hitting .643 and also powered the offense with 38 assists. Sarah Parker and Abbey Thissen both set career-highs in blocks, with Parker recording 11 blocks—three solo, while Thissen racked up seven total blocks—one solo. Whitney Burmeister also had a solid match as she posted 25 digs.

SMSU (25-9) hit .245 in the match and tallied 19 total team blocks for the first time since the team played at Minnesota Duluth in regular season play on Nov. 8. Sonoma State was held to .178 hitting in the match while putting up seven team blocks.

Sonoma State (24-6) came out with a lot of energy in the first set as the Seawolves held the Mustangs to just .077 hitting percentage in the first set. Both team traded points throughout the set as there was a match-high 15 tie scores and six lead changes. Both teams fought to take the first frame as the score was knotted up at 24-24 but a service error by the Mustangs and a SSU kill gave the Seawolves set one, 26-24.

The Seawolves took the energy and kept into set two as Sonoma State kept the lead the whole set despite SMSU tying it up seven times. SSU took set two, 25-23 to build a 2-0 lead in the match.

Sonoma State came out in the third set just like the rest of the match as the Seawolves jumped out to a 8-1 lead, but the Mustangs wouldn't give up. SMSU fought back to tie the match at 19-19 and went on to take a two-point lead before earning a 25-21 victory. 

SMSU battled in the fourth set as the Mustangs jumped out to take the early lead but SSU came back to take the lead back midway through the set. SMSU retaliated and regained the lead and held it down the stretch despite the Seawolves trying to spoil the comeback and tying it at 20-20. Emilee Gutzmer recorded a service ace, followed by a pair of kills by Sames and Larson to push the match to a fifth set as the Mustangs won set four, 25-20.

In the deciding set, both teams fought for the lead and were knotted up at 4-4 before SMSU took control and dominated the rest of the way to complete the comeback with a 15-6 win.

Follow @smsumustangs on Twitter or visit smsumustangs.com for more information.