> Box Score

DENVER – Freshman Kenzie Beekman recorded a career-high 16 kills and finished with a .375 hitting percentage to lead No. 10 Southwest Minnesota State to a 21-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-16 victory over No. 2 University of Tampa on Friday morning at the Colorado Premier Challenge on the campus of Metro State.
 
Abbey Thissen racked up 15 kills and hit .370, while Whitney Burmeister also had a big match hitting .448 with 13 kills and recording a team-high 11 digs.
 
Megan Larson dished out 26 assists, while Emilee Gutzmer added 19 assists and six digs to help pace the SMSU offense.
 
After dropping the first set, SMSU rallied to tie the match with a late comeback in set two. Trailing 22-20, a service error and attack error by the Spartans tied the match at 22. Following a Tampa kill to make the score 23-22, SMSU reeled off three straight points behind a kill from Thissen, an error by Tampa and set-clinching kill from Sarah Parker to give SMSU a 25-22 win.
 
In set three, SMSU trailed 19-18, but again rallied back with five straight points to take command of the set. A kill by Thissen tied the match, before Beekman gave SMSU the lead with a service ace. Following back-to-back kills by Burmeister and Thissen and an attack error by Tampa (4-1), the lead moved to 23-19, forcing a timeout by the Spartans. Following a kill by Tampa, SMSU closed out the set with a kill by Burmeister and a hitting error by Tampa.
 
SMSU dominated set four, jumping out to a 7-2 lead and never looked back. Holding a 13-8 lead, Beekman had a kill and two service aces to highlight a 5-0 run to extend the margin to 18-8. Beekman later closed the match with two straight kills to give SMSU its first win over Tampa since Sept. 11, 2010, which was also held in Denver.
 
Southwest Minnesota State will take on Metro State (Colo.) later today at 3:30 p.m. CDT.