MOBILE, Ala. – The No. 11 ranked Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball opened the 2023 season on Friday splitting a pair of matches at the Springhill Suites Invitational, defeating Oklahoma Baptist 3-0, before suffering a 3-1 loss to Spring Hill College (Ala.).
 
Both matches were played inside the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center on the campus of Spring Hill College.
 
SMSU will conclude the two-day event on Saturday with two matches at the University of West Florida Field House in Pensacola with an 11:30 a.m. match-up versus Wheeling (W. Va.) before closing the day with a 4:30 p.m. match versus West Florida.
 
In Friday's first match versus OBU, the Mustangs won by scores of 25-10, 25-20 and 25-23. SMSU hit an outstanding .348 with 52 kills and just 13 errors on 112 attacks.
 
Brooklyn Kusler led the Mustang with 13 kills while hitting .667, with teammate Leah Jones, playing her first collegiate match, closed with 10 kills and hit .259. Saari Kuehl and Karli Arkell each added eight kills to help the SMSU offense.
 
Alisa Bengen dished out 36 assists and also added six kills and nine digs. McKenzie Tolk closed with a team-high 12 digs with Emily Strasser, playing in her first career match after transferring from Northwestern College (Iowa), chipped in with eight digs.
 
Spring Hill, which won 29 matches and advanced to the NCAA Tournament a season ago, limited SMSU to a .166 hitting percentage and 29 hitting errors, in earning a 25-22, 28-26, 13-25, 25-16 victory.
 
SMSU led 25-24 in game two, only to see the SHC rally with four of the next five points to build a 2-0 match lead.
 
SMSU trailed 6-3 in set three only to reel off eight straight points with four kills by Kusler to build an 11-6 lead and never looked back in cruising to the victory.
 
The Mustangs would hold a 15-13 lead in set four only to see the Badgers break a 16-16 tie with nine straight points to close the set and secure the match victory.
 
Jones paced SMSU with 17 kills on 42 attacks with eight digs, while Kusler recorded 13 kills. Emma VanHeel added 12 kills and finished with six blocks, while Arkell racked up seven kills and four blocks.
 
Tolk led the defense with 25 digs with Strasser finishing with 13 and Bengen adding 12.
 
Bengen dished out a match-high 51 assists.