ST. PAUL, Minn.- The No. 7-ranked Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team (23-6) fell to the No. 9-ranked St. Cloud State Huskies 25-20, 30-28, 25-19 on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the NSIC Tournament inside the Gangelhoff Center, on the campus of Concordia-St. Paul.
 
The fifth-seeded Huskies will move on to face the winner of top-seeded Wayne State and eighth-seeded Augustana at 7: 30 p.m., on Saturday.
 
Brooklyn Kusler racked up a career-best 13 kills in the loss, hitting .346 and picking up a block. Saari Kuehl added eight kills, while Meg Schmidt tallied seven kills. Alisa Bengen finished the night with 28 assists, seven digs, and four kills. Schmidt led the defense with five blocks, while Katelyn Nichols pitched in four blocks. Natalee Rolbiecki patrolled the back-line, finishing with a team-best 10 digs.
 
The Mustangs finished the match with eight blocks against the six of SCSU, but the Huskies took advantage of four aces and 10 Mustang service errors to come away with the victory.  
 
The first set started as a seesaw, with neither team able to stretch a lead through the first 29 points. With the Mustangs leading 15-14, SCSU rattled off three points in a row, and six of seven points to lead 20-16. The Huskies would reach set point at 24-19 before winning the set 25-20.
 
The Mustangs scored the first three points of the second set, but SCSU answered with four of the next five points to even the match. A back-and-forth battle would find the Huskies leading 24-22, but three consecutive points from SMSU gave them a set point at 25-24. The Mustangs would reach three more set points at 26-25, 27-26, and 28-27, but a 3-0 run would give the Huskies the set and a 2-0 lead.
 
The Huskies scored the first four points of the third set, leading wire-to-wire en route to the sweep.
 
The Mustangs will now play the waiting game, with their fate in the hands of the NCAA Regional Ranking Committee. The NCAA Selection Show will be streamed online on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 9:30 p.m. (CT) on NCAA.com.