MARSHALL, Minn. – Angela Young collected her 1,000th career kill, and Meg Schmidt tallied a rare triple-double to help boost the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs volleyball team past the University of Mary 25-12, 25-16, 25-20 on Saturday afternoon.

Young would finish the game with 14 kills and hit at a .444 clip. She is the 15th player in SMSU history to reach the 1,000-kill milestone. Schmidt stuffed the stat sheet with 15 kills, 13 digs, 11 assists, and four aces while hitting at .423. Payton Hjerleid would lead the way defensively with 15 digs, while Emma VanHeel would collect four blocked shots to go along with three kills.
 
The Mustangs never trailed in the first set. They traded points until the score grew to 3-3, when a 15-8 run would catapult SMSU to an 18-11 lead. UMary would score the next point, before a 7-0 run would be enough to put the first set away. Young would collect kills in each of the first four points of the run, before a pair of Rachel Fink aces and a UMary error would close it out. The Mustangs would hit .500 on the set, while limiting the Marauders to a .233 percentage.
 
SMSU would lead the entire second set as well, with a 3-0 run out of the gate and never took their foot off the gas. The Mustangs would never lead by less than two, and their lead would grow to as much as nine at 24-15 before trading points to come to a 25-16 score. SMSU would outhit UMary .367-.107, and would collect 15 kills against the seven of UMary.

UMary would take control early in set three, scoring the first three points and taking an 8-4 lead. An 11-3 run would erupt the Mustangs to a 15-11 lead, but UMary would respond with a 5-1 run to cut the lead to 16-15 SMSU. The Mustangs would rattle off five straight points, highlighted by three kills from Saari Kuehl, to extend the lead to 21-15, and would close the set with a UMary error and VanHeel kill to close out the game.

 Sophie Johnson would set the pace for the offense with 19 assists, and Katelyn Nichols would help the attack with six kills and a pair of blocks.

SMSU hits the road next weekend, traveling to face Winona State on Friday, Oct. 15 at 6 p.m. before going to Upper Iowa for a match on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 5 p.m.