Box Score

MARSHALL, Minn. -  No. 7 Southwest Minnesota State opened Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play with a 25-20, 29-27, 25-12 victory over Augustana in the PE Gym on Thursday night.

Taylor Reiss paced the Mustangs with a match-high 25 kills while hitting .449 and recording seven digs. Meg Schmidt tied a career-high with 11 kills and finished the match hitting .500.

Emma Thomssen dished out 48 assists while Kaylee Burmeister finished with a team-high 13 digs.

SMSU (6-3, 1-0 NSIC) finished the match hitting .402 while limiting Augustana (5-4, 0-1 NSIC) to a .162 hitting percentage.

SMSU led for much of the opening set before Augie closed to within 20-19. A kill by Reiss sparked a 4-0 run to give SMSU a 24-19 advantage.

Set two was a back-and-forth affair with 17 ties and 12 lead changes. Both teams held off a handful of set points before the Mustangs closed the set with three straight points. Trailing 27-26, Schmidt recorded back-to-back kills, before Sarina Smith closed the set with a kill to give SMSU a 29-27 victory.

Mustangs dominated set three as Burmeister served SMSU to seven straight points to begin the set and SMSU never looked back in earning its 21^st victory in the last 23 meetings versus Augie.

Southwest Minnesota State continues NSIC play at Wayne State on Saturday for a 1 p.m. match.