Box Score

DULUTH, Minn. – The No. 3-seeded Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team fell 3-1 (25-15, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22) to top-seeded Minnesota Duluth in the championship match of the NSIC Tournament held in the Romano Gymnasium on Saturday night.
 
SMSU (23-8) now awaits its post-season fate on Sunday night as the 64-team NCAA tournament field will be announced at 9 p.m. CST at NCAA.com.
 
UMD (27-5), the co-NSIC regular season champions, earn the NSIC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
SMSU played tonight's match without NSIC Player of the Year Taylor Reis, who missed the match with an injury.
 
Reiss and teammate Kaylee Burmeister were each named to the all-tournament team.
 
Four Mustangs delivered double figures as Angela Young led the way with 19 kills and a .359 hitting percentage. Burmeister, who has predominately played libero this season, transitioned over to record 16 kills and 10 digs. Sydney Omtvedt let the defense with 15 digs while Emma Thomssen recorded 58 assists.
 
The Mustangs were overpowered in the first set as the Bulldogs went for a .545 hitting percentage with 14 kills off 22 attempts. The two teams battled at 9-9 before UMD went on to gain a 12-11 advance and extended lead with four unanswered points to go up 16-11. UMD never looked back to take set one, 25-17.
 
The Mustangs trailed 17-14 in the Mustangs went for five consecutive points as Young and Lexi Ferrell delivered two kills each and an attack error would give the Mustangs an 18-17 edge. UMD regained the upper-hand with set tied 23-23 to take the set, 25-23.
 
SMSU lead nearly the entire third set to stay alive in the match with only one mere tied score and no lead changes. The Mustangs secured the set victory with their largest lead of the of the set with 4-0 run to go up 17-13. UMD became a threat with SMSU at set point and the score 24-23 but the UMD committed an error for the Mustangs to earn a set three victory, 25-23.
 
UMD earned its largest lead of the set at 21-18 before the Mustangs scraped together two consecutive points to close in at 21-20. UMD kept the lead to take the fourth set, 25-22 and win the title.