DULUTH, Minn.--The Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team displayed its true resilience Thursday evening, winning three-straight sets after going down 2-0 to reverse sweep the No. 14 Minn. Duluth Bulldogs by scores of 22-25, 15-25, 25-21, 26-24, and 23-21.
 
The win is SMSU's first five-set victory of the season. The Mustangs push their record to 22-4 overall, now 13-3 in the NSIC. Minn. Duluth drops to 8-7 in the conference and 15-8 overall.
 
Saari Kuehl led the Mustang attacking crew this evening, posting 14 kills in the win. Emma VanHeel and Leah Jones each tallied 12 kills in their efforts, hitting .114 and .146, respectively. Rounding out the attack was Brooklyn Kusler, who tallied 11 kills on .237 hitting. 
 
Alisa Bengen did what she does best tonight, posting 45 assists in the setter role, while tallying five kills, 19 digs, and three blocks in other areas. Bengen grabbed two service aces in the match, tying two other Mustangs for a team high.
 
McKenzie Tolk anchored SMSU defensively, bumping 24 digs and grabbing two service aces on the back line. Tolk secured a season-high two kills and dished four assists in the win. Natalee Rolbiecki accommodated Tolk on the back line, bumping 18 digs and setting two assists.
 
The Mustangs posted eight blocks on the line with VanHeel securing a team-high three total. Brooklyn Kusler and Karli Arkell posted two blocks apiece.
 
Set one saw the Mustangs jump out to a 13-6 lead early before a spark on the Bulldogs end pushed the score back to a near-even 13-12 in favor of SMSU. UMD would score 11 of the final 19 points to win the set 25-22. 
 
Set two was completely controlled by the Bulldogs. Kills from VanHeel and Leah Jones failed to get the ball rolling for the Mustangs, as SMSU scored just 15 points in the game. Minn. Duluth pushed a confident attack behind Samantha Paulsen and Cianna Selbitschka, who were the top hitters for UMD tonight. 
 
Set three saw a swing in momentum for the SMSU camp. A Mustang killing-spree driven by attacks from Kusler and Arkell sparked an SMSU lead at 15-14. UMD responded by taking advantage of SMSU attacking errors and tallying points from Grace Daak to settle the score at 19-18, advantage Bulldogs. The Mustangs tallied seven of the final nine points to finally claim victory 25-21.
 
The fourth set was neck-and-neck up until the 40th set point. After the score settled at 19-19, UMD would go on a 3-0 mini run to go up by three. SMSU responded with a 5-1 mini-run of its own, driving the score to 24-23. The Bulldogs scored once more to even the score before Emma VanHeel smashed two kills past the UMD blockers to win the set 26-24.
 
The final set allowed even more extra volleyball than allotted. Neither team was willing to fall in the final moments, leading to 15 tie-scores in the game and five lead changes. The back-and-forth play continued all the way until the 42nd point, before SMSU capitalized on a Bulldogs attacking error and Alisa Bengen kill to secure the reverse sweep.
 
UP NEXT
 
SMSU returns home for the final two matches of the regular season, taking on Winona State on Friday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. and Concordia-St. Paul the next day at 3 p.m.