MARSHALL, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team opened its busy home stand with a 3–1 win over Augustana in dominant fashion, defeating the Vikings by scores of 29-27, 20-25, 25-16, and 26-24. As a result, the Mustangs jump to 5-1 in conference play and 12-2 overall. Augustana drops to 2-4 in the NSIC and 5-9 overall.

SMSU, which swept Minot State and UMary last weekend, backed the win with four players scoring over eight kills. Both offenses were on fire, with Augustana recording 52 kills and SMSU recording 56.
Saari Kuehl recorded a season-high 18 kills in the match, recording only one error on 46 total attack attempts. Kuehl added one dig and one assist in the win. Ashley Peltier, who started all six sets for the Mustangs this past weekend, notched 12 of her own kills, tallying five errors on 33 attempts (21 percent).

Emma VanHeel and Leah Jones each recorded eight kills in their efforts, with VanHeel adding five digs and four total blocks. Jones dished out two assists and posted two block assists in the win.

The Mustangs touted a defensive-heavy back line in tonight's match. The team combined for 86 digs, compared to just 73 posted by Augustana. McKenzie Tolk recorded 24 digs, the most by a player in the match, while Jones added 22 digs and Alisa Bengen finished with 18.

Karli Arkell performed exceptionally well on defense, grabbing two solo blocks and two digs, as well as six kills on offense. Bengen paced SMSU with 46 assists and four kills on offense.

Kia Kriener stood out for the Vikings, hitting for 21 kills on an impressive .346 percentage. Reagan Jansen grabbed 11 of her own kills, adding 13 digs and two block assists to her resume.

Set one was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team leading by more than three points early on. There was a total of 18 tie scores and five lead changes in the first set, with the score eventually pushing past 25-25. Saari Kuehl daggered three straight kills for the Mustangs to capture the first game 29-27.

Set two saw similar results to set one in terms of battling play. Again, neither team was willing to lose the set. The second set saw 10 tie scores with a change of lead only twice. After the score settled at 16-16, Augustana took advantage of two kills and a couple service errors by the Mustangs to push the score to 21-18. A handful more of SMSU errors pushed the Vikings over the edge, winning the set 25-20

Set three was all SMSU. The Mustangs led by as many as 7 points in the game, eventually winning by nine. Augustana was plagued with errors in the third set, failing to keep themselves afloat. Shared kills by Arkell, Jones, and Peltier propelled the Mustangs to a third set victory a 2-1 lead in the match.

Set four was reminiscent of the first two sets. Both teams fought relentlessly to prevail in the fourth game, with Augustana eventually falling short. Late in the set at a score of 23-20 in favor of Augustana, the Mustangs rallied with energy that was backed by a McKenzie Tolk service spree. SMSU edged out the Vikings in the set 26-24

LOOKING AHEAD

SMSU welcomes No. 6 St. Cloud State (13-3, 6-1 NSIC) on Friday, Oct. 6, for the first game of SMSU Alumni Weekend at 6 p.m.

No. 11 Minnesota Duluth (11-4, 4-3 NSIC) comes to town on Saturday, Oct. 7, to round out the Mustangs' week with first serve at 2 p.m