FAYETTE, Iowa –The No. 7 Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team took care of business on the road, defeating Upper Iowa, 25-21, 19-25, 25-18, 25-12 on Friday night in the Dorman Memorial Gym.
 
SMSU advances to 22-5 overall with a 14-5 record in the NSIC while UIU falls to 14-12 overall and 8-11 in the NSIC.
 
Meg Schmidt was a force at the net for the Mustangs, picking up 20 kills and four blocks to lead the way. Brooklyn Kusler pitched in 11 kills, while Katelyn Nichols added 10 kills while hitting .421, adding four blocks.
 
Alisa Bengen was great again for SMSU, dishing 44 assists, recording six kills without an error, and getting eight digs. Natalee Rolbiecki held down the back-line with 22 digs, and Rachel Fink chipped in with 15 digs. Karli Arkell blocked five attacks at the net.
 
SMSU hit .255, collecting 58 kills and 74 digs, while UIU was held to a .121 hitting percentage, recording 39 kills and 56 digs.
 
The Mustangs raced out to a 4-1 lead behind a kill from Kusler, Schmidt, and a pair of UIU attack errors. The Peacocks countered with three consecutive points on Mustang errors to tie the match, eventually beginning to pull away at 14-10. Four straight SMSU points tied the match at 14, evening a match that would see ties at 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 points. An Arkell block fueled the Mustangs, fueling a 4-0 run that included kills from Schmidt, Fink, and Kusler, and would be enough to lift SMSU to a 1-0 lead.
 
UIU opened the second set leading narrowly at 8-6, but the Mustangs galloped to a 15-11 lead with a pair of kills from Bengen and Kuehl leading the way. The Peacocks scored five of the next six points to tie the match at 16-16. Again, the match tightened, with ties at 17 and 18 following, but UIU closed the set scoring seven of the final eight points to even the match at 1-1.
 
The Mustangs took control of the third set early and held it the entire way, scoring six of the first seven points and leading wire to wire. They led by as many as nine at 16-7, and scored the final three points of the set to head into set four with a 2-1 advantage.
 
After UIU scored the first point of set four, SMSU picked up where they left off in set three, scoring eight straight points and 20 of the next 25 points to lead 20-6. The gap was too much for the Peacocks to overcome, with the Mustangs prevailing in four sets.
 
SMSU closes its regular season Saturday afternoon, traveling for a match at Winona State at 2 p.m.