MARSHALL, Minn. -- The No. 5 Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team had its 11-match winning streak to open the season come to an end on Friday night suffering a 3-0 setback to No. 20 St. Cloud State inside the PE Gym.
 
SCSU (9-3, 4-0 NSIC), which hit .308 in the match—the highest by an SMSU opponent this season—won by scores of 25-21, 25-18 and 25-19. SCSU is just the second SMSU opponent to hit higher than .200 in a single-match this season.
 
SMSU drops to 11-1 overall, 3-1 NSIC, after hitting a season-low .167.
 
Meg Schmidt and Emma VanHeel each recorded 10 kills to pace the Mustangs with VanHeel hitting .368. Katelyn Nichols added eight kills, while Angela Young chipped in with six kills for the Mustangs.
 
Alisa Bengen dished out 28 assists for the Mustangs, while teammate Payton Hjerleid recorded 15 digs.
 
In the opening set, SCSU built a 17-12 advantage before SMSU fought-back and cut the deficit to 22-21 following a kill by Nichols. SCSU however answered with four straight points to earn a 25-21 victory.
 
The Huskies jumped out to a big 12-3 lead in set two, before the Mustangs chipped away and eventually trimmed the deficit to 15-13 after kill by Young. Just like in set one, SCSU responded in a big way scoring the next four points to push the lead to 19-13 and never looked back in winning 25-18.
 
SMSU held the lead in the early stages of set three, including 14-11 after back-to-back kills by Nichols. SCSU came right back with five straight points to a 16-14 lead.
 
Schmidt would later tie the set at 17 with a kill, but SCSU reeled off three straight points, capped by a service ace, to make the score 20-17. SMSU would get no closer than three points the remainder of the set as SCSU earned the 25-19 win and defeat SMSU for the third straight time.
 
Southwest Minnesota State will look to rebound on Saturday hosting No. 19 Minnesota Duluth with match time set for 2 p.m.