SIOUX FALLS, S.D.- The No. 14-ranked Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team (18-6 overall, 10-6 NSIC), fell in four sets on the road to Augustana College (15-9, 10-6) 12-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-19 on Tuesday evening at the Elmen Center in Sioux Falls, S.D.
 
Angela Young recorded 20 kills and nine digs while hitting .326 to lead the Mustangs. Emma VanHeel picked up 12 kills of her own to help the SMSU attack. Payton Hjerleid led the defense with 18 digs, with Rachel Fink recording 12 digs, her highest total since the first match of the season. 
 
The Mustangs never trailed in set one, scoring the first two points and jumping to a 9-3 lead early on. SMSU would dominate throughout, eventually leading 13-5 before the Vikings would make a charge. Augie would narrow the SMSU lead to 15-10, but ten of the next 12 points would go to SMSU, including seven of the last eight to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead.
 
Set two would start with the teams splitting the first 22 points to move to an 11-11 tie. Augie would pull ahead with three of the next four points, and then eight of ten following an SMSU point to lead 22-15. Augie would then score three of the final five points to even the match up at a set apiece. 
 
Set three looked to tilt in the direction of SMSU, as they galloped to a 9-5 lead to force an Augie timeout. The teams would each get a point following the timeout, but eight unanswered points by Augie would get them to a 14-10 lead. Augie would continue holding off SMSU the rest of the set, as SMSU would narrow the lead to 18-16 before a 3-1 run would get them to a 21-17 lead. The teams would split the final eight points to give Augie a win to take a 2-1 lead. 
 
Set four started in bunches, with two straight Augie points, followed by a 3-0 SMSU run, followed by a 3-0 Augie run before SMSU answered with two straight of their own to tie 5-5. Augie followed the stretch by scoring nine of 12 points to take a 14-8 lead and would hole a lead through the rest of the match. After SMSU scored a pair to close the gap to 14-10, Augie fired back with a 4-0 stretch to lead 18-10. The teams would split the next eight points to get to 22-14. SMSU made a late charge, closing the gap to 24-19, but Augie would score the next point to finish the match. 
 
Augustana recorded 58 kills and hit .280 against the 48 kills and .232 hitting percentage of SMSU. Augie also doubled up SMSU's block total 12-6. 
 
SMSU has now lost four consecutive road matches.
 
SMSU returns to action Friday in Duluth to face UMD at 6 p.m., before traveling to St. Cloud to face the Huskies at 2 p.m., on Saturday.