PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team closed out the Springhill Suites Invitational with a tournament record of 3-1, sweeping co-host and No. 12-ranked West Florida 27-25, 25-16, and 25-20 on Saturday afternoon.
Brooklyn Kusler and
Leah Jones led the Mustang offense, with the duo recording a combined 20 of the 46 SMSU kills in the match. Supporting the attack was
Saari Kuehl,
Emma VanHeel, and
Karli Arkell, as they tallied seven kills apiece.
Alisa Bengen set up the Mustang offense with 34 assists, while
McKenzie Tolk's 13 digs and match-high six solo blocks for
Karli Arkell anchored the defense.
West Florida came out swinging in set one scoring five of the first seven points to lead 5-2. Shortly after, the Mustangs completely flipped momentum following six straight points scored in tandem by Kusler and Arkell, forcing an Argonauts timeout at a score of 8-5. Neither team was willing to go down early in the match, scoring back-and-forth, eventually pushing the score to 25-25.
Jones pushed the Mustangs over the edge with a stern kill, forcing a sloppy attack from UWF the point after, giving SMSU the set by a score of 27-25, and the match advantage of 1-0.
SMSU paced its play in the second set, starting with a seven-point run after being down 6-3, giving the Mustangs the early lead of 10-6. West Florida was plagued with errors in set two, tallying 10 in the set to just three posted by SMSU.
It was all Mustangs for the remainder of set two, running away with seven of the last 10 points, giving SMSU the commanding 25-16 set win and 2-0 match advantage. SMSU hit .281 in the second set while securing 12 kills.
Set three saw the Argonauts take a five-point lead early before the Mustangs responded with four straight points of their own, forcing a UWF timeout. Similarly to set two, the Mustangs controlled the back half of set three. SMSU closed out the match by capturing an impressive nine of the last 14 points, with numerous Mustangs chipping in their efforts on offense and defense.
UP NEXT
The Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team will travel to Kansas for four additional non-conference matches at the Pittsburg State Classic. The Mustangs will play two matches on Friday, Sept. 8, squaring off with Arkansas Fort Smith at 9 a.m., and Northwestern Oklahoma State at 2 p.m. SMSU will close its trip to Kansas following matches against Drury at 9 a.m., and tournament host Pittsburg State (Kan.) at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9.
