MARSHALL, Minn. – The No. 7 Mustangs limited the Marauders to 35 kills in a sweep over UMary in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference volleyball at the SMSU PE Gym on Friday night. 

SMSU, now 16-1 overall and 7-1 in NSIC play, earns its 27th consecutive win over the Marauders to extend its unbeaten streak in the all-time series.

UMary drops to 2-13 on the year and 0-7 in the NSIC.

Saari Kuehl led the Mustangs offense with a match-high 17 kills on a whopping .593 hitting percentage while adding a block assists and three digs. Emma VanHeel tallied 11 kills on .524 hitting and added a team-high five blocks.  

Sydney Thein supported the attack by recording 41 assists and six digs. McKenzie Tolk anchored the back line with 14 digs, followed by Kennedy Drake securing eight digs. 

Gabby Caskey and Holli Klettheimer each swung for nine kills to lead UMary, with each also adding a block assist. Maddy Freed supported the Marauders offense with 29 assists and five digs. The UMary defense was led by Kaia Sueker, who logged 15 digs.  

The Mustangs came out swinging to jump out to a 9-2 advantage in the first set. UMary bounced back with a 4-1 run to cut the deficit to three at 14-11. A pair of attacking errors and kills traded between the teams settled the score at 21-17 until a kill, service ace, and pair of errors gave the Mustangs the next four points to close out set one.

SMSU continued its hot play to lead 13-4 early in set two. The Marauders were limited to just nine kills and a .083 hitting percentage in the second set as SMSU would cruise to a dominant 25-14 win.   

The Marauders defense still failed to stop the Mustangs' attacking unit as Saari Kuehl swung for seven kills and Emma VanHeel tallied three kills in set three to lead SMSU to the sweep. 

SMSU posted 50 kills on a season-high .396 hitting percentage with seven total blocks, while UMary was limited to 35 kills on .211 hitting.  

The Mustangs return to the court tomorrow hosting Minot State (1-13, 0-7 NSIC), with first serve set for 1 p.m.