Box Score

ST. PAUL - The No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team tried to pull off another comeback, but came up short as it fell 3-2 against No. 21 Winona State in the semifinal match of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament. Mustangs fell by scores of 25-22, 25-20, 18-25, 18-25, 15-10.

Winona State will play the winner of the Concordia-St. Paul/Minnesota Duluth match tomorrow at 1 p.m.

The loss is the first for the Mustangs in five sets as they are 6-1 this season in matches that go the distance. The defeat is also the first against Winona State since the 2007 season and the first time in the NSIC Tournament.

SMSU finished hitting at a .278 clip and had four players in double-digit kills. Abbey Thissen led all scorers with 19 kills, while Taylor Reiss floored 17. Kenzie Beekman and Eisha Oden added 11 kills apiece with Oden hitting a team-high .458 and did not record an attack error. Megan Larson dished out 58 assists in the loss while adding double-digit digs for her 11th double-double of the season.

The Mustangs controlled the net as it held the Warriors to a .276 hitting percentage and recorded 10 team blocks to WSU's nine. Oden led the effort with five blocks, while Reiss put up four rejections. Whitney Burmeister led with 18 digs, with Larson adding 14 and Kaylee Burmeister tallying 10.

Southwest Minnesota State is ranked No. 2 in the NCAA Division II Central Region ranking, which puts them in play for a bid for the NCAA DII Volleyball Tournament. SMSU has made the NCAA tournament the last 11 seasons.

The complete NCAA championship bracket will be announced Monday, Nov. 23, via a webcast selection show on NCAA.com at 6:30 p.m.(CT) The regional tournament will take place Dec. 3-5 or 4-6 on regional campuses. Watch smsumustangs.com or follow on twitter @smsumustangs for updates.