Box Score
 
ST. CLOUD, Minn. – In a hard-fought battle of two nationally-ranked teams and top-teams in the conference, No. 13 St. Cloud State (16-4, 8-4 NSIC) slipped past No. 11 Southwest Minnesota State (13-7-7-5 NSIC) in four-sets on Friday night in Halenbeck Hall.
 
The Mustangs started off strong earning the first-set victory and delivered a .400 hitting percentage in the first set alone, led by one of SMSU's offensive leaders, Meg Schmidt, who finished the match tied with Angela Young to lead with 18 kills apiece. Schmidt capped off the set one advantage with back-to-back kills to give SMSU a 25-21 victory. 
 
The Huskies fought back in set two as SCSU's Linsey Rachel, who led the Huskies with 18 kills, and Chloe Dousette, who finished with 13, helped SCSU rally with eight tie scores and six lead changes in set two alone. The Huskies used a late three-point push in the second set to hold the Mustangs at bay to claim a 25-20 set two rally. 
 
Late in the third set, the Huskies converted a four-point lead to an eight-point lead to create a 22-14 advantage which would pull SCSU through to another 25-20 set victory. 
 
The Mustangs would hard-fight did not end there as they attempted to tie the match back up with a neck-and-neck set with SMSU holding a 23-22 advantage. With the end in sight, the Huskies used a late three-point run with an error, a kill, and a block to end the match with a 3-1 final. 
 
SMSU's offense was paced by junior Emma Thomssen, who finished the night with 49 assists and 19 digs, while Payton Hjerleid led on the defensive end with 24 digs. The Mustangs totaled a .305 hitting percentage as the Huskies finished with a .252 hitting percentage. 
 
Southwest Minnesota State travels, yet again, to another top team in the nation and in the conference tomorrow with a 4 p.m. match at No. 5 Minnesota Duluth (18-2, 11-1 NSIC) in the Romano Gymnasium.