Box Score

PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State women's volleyball team opened its season with a 25-16, 25-19, 25-21 victory over No. 5 Western Washington this afternoon in the West Florida Invitational at the Ross Center at Pensacola State College.
 
Taylor Reiss led the way for the Mustangs with 15 kills and nine digs while Kaylee Burmeister added 11 kills and 11 digs.
 
SMSU finished the match hitting .232 while limiting WWU to a .090 hitting percentage.
 
The Mustangs took an early lead in the first set going up 14-2 and never looked back hitting .300 with 12 kills. In set two, the Mustangs went down 6-5 before reeling off six straight points to go ahead 11-6 punctuated by two kills by Burmeister and one each from Meg Schmidt and Sarina Smith.
 
SMSU jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the third set, before WWU rallied to build an 11-8 lead. SMSU responded with three kills from Burmeister and a service ace by Sydney Omtvedt to tie the set at 12-12. The set was tied again at 14-14 before three attacking errors committed by the Vikings and three kills from Reiss which gave the Mustangs an 8-1 push to give a 22-15 lead.
 
Emma Thomssen recorded 36 assists and Omtvedt had 11 digs in both of their first career starts. Freshman Meg Schmidt added five blocks to give the Mustangs their fourth consecutive season opener victory.
 
Southwest Minnesota State takes on West Florida at 7 p.m. to complete the opening day.