MARSHALL, Minn. – The No. 7 SMSU volleyball team posted a .386 hitting percentage with 48 kills to earn a 25-11, 25-17, 25-8 win over Minot State in front of over 1,000 fans in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference volleyball on Saturday afternoon at the SMSU PE Gym.

The Mustangs improve to 17-1 on the season and 8-1 in NSIC play. The Beavers drop to 1-14, 0-8 NSIC.

Emma VanHeel and Leah Jones tallied nine kills apiece to lead the SMSU offense. VanHeel supported the attack with a pair of aces and four block assists. Jones added three digs and a pair of block assists. Freshman Natalie Pilney swung for a career-high eight kills on .636 hitting and nabbed three block assists in the win.

Sydney Thein recorded 39 set assists in support of the attack while holding it down defensively with five digs.

McKenzie Tolk led the back line with 19 digs and Mya Krystosek followed behind with 10 digs.

Paulina Kowalska logged six kills to lead the Beavers on offense. Kelci Madrid led the defense with 14 digs.

A pair of attacking errors mixed in with SMSU kills gave the Mustangs an early 4-2 lead until a 7-0 run backed by five Mustang attackers pushed the lead to 11-3. Emily Rohrer, Natalie Pilney, and Paige Steinmetz all added kills en route the the first set win.

MSU moved to a 7-3 lead to start the second set before SMSU pursued another 7-0 run to retake the lead, 10-7. Emma VanHeel sparked another 5-1 run by grabbing a service ace, assisting on a block and swinging for a kill to give SMSU a six-point lead. The Mustangs never looked back in taking the set 25-17.

The Mustangs limited the Beavers to a negative hitting percentage in the final set and held MSU to just four kills. SMSU would score 10 of the final 11 points to take the third set and send the Beavers packing.

The Mustangs return to the court next weekend at home, facing Winona State (11-8, 4-4 NSIC) for its annual "Red Out" on Friday, Oct. 18, with match time set for 6 p.m.