MARSHALL, Minn. – The No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team tallied another mark in the win column Friday evening after sweeping Winona State University for the second time this season. SMSU won the match by set scores of 25-20, 25-21, and 25-17. SMSU is now 14-3 in the NSIC and improves to 23-4 overall. WSU drops to 10-7 in the conference and 18-8 overall.
Leading the way for the Mustangs offense was Saari Kuehl. Kuehl hit an impressive 35 percent on a team-high 10 kills with only two errors, while adding two blocks at the net.. Supporting the attack in an eventful return was Leah Jones, who smashed 8 kills on 24 attempts for a .208 hitting percentage, and added six digs and a team-high four service aces. Brooklyn Kusler rounded out the top Mustang attackers with seven kills on .273 hitting, posting only one error on 22 attempts.
Floating around the court on defense was McKenzie Tolk. Tolk captured a team-high 13 digs and set one assist with one service ace and a kill in the match. Her defensive counterparts were
Natalee Rolbiecki and
Emily Strasser, notching eight and five digs, respectively.
Alisa Bengen paced the SMSU offense with 26 assists, while grabbing herself five kills with one error on 10 attempts, good enough for .400 hitting. Bengen added seven digs on defense. Top blockers for SMSU were Emma Vanheel, who tallied seven total blocks in the win, just one short of her season-high of eight.
The numbers seemed somewhat even in the match, as SMSU tallied just six more kills than WSU (39-33). Additionally, the Mustangs posted 47 digs in the match to 53 posted by the Warriors, but captured an astounding 12 service aces compared to Winona's two.
Hitting well for the Warriors were a trio of attackers in Sidney Paulson, Gianna Vollrath, and Kenna Kornely. Paulson hit nine kills with four errors on 24 attempts for .208 hitting. Berg and Vollrath saw similar results at the net, hitting for seven kills apiece, and recorded the two team-high hitting percentages of .389 and .208, respectively. Jace Winchell posted 14 assists in the setter role with one kill and seven digs.
Rylee Vaughn anchored the Winona back line with 22 digs. The Warriors tied the Mustangs block numbers with eight total blocks of their own.
UP NEXT
SMSU hosts No. 4 Concordia St.Paul tomorrow, with first serve set for 3 p.m.
The Mustangs host an NSIC opponent for the quarterfinals of the NSIC Tournament on Tuesday, Nov. 14, at 6 p.m.
