DULUTH, Minn. – The No. 4 SMSU volleyball team strung together a handful of points in the clutch to take down the No. 15 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs 18-25, 25-21, 25-20, 26-24 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action on Friday night at Romano Gymnasium.

SMSU extends its streak to 14 wins, remaining a perfect 5-0 in NSIC play. UMD drops to 8-4 on the year, 1-3 NSIC.

A trio of hitters in Leah Jones, Saari Kuehl, and Ashley Peltier each recorded double-digit kills to guide the SMSU offense in the win. Jones aided the offense with 14 kills on .250 hitting and four assists, while logging 14 digs on the back line for a double-double. Kuehl followed with 16 and a pair of block assists, while Peltier recorded 11 kills on .318 hitting and three block assists. 

Karli Arkell and Emma VanHeel tallied nine and eight kills, respectively.

Sydney Thein anchored the attack with 49 assists and two kills, and held it down defensively with 10 for a double-double.

Four Mustangs logged over 10 digs in the victory with McKenzie Tolk leading the way with 16.

UMD also had three hitters in double figures with Samantha Paulsen recording a team-high 14 kills. Payton Addink and Cianna Selbitschka tallied 13 and 10 kills, respectively, while Selbitschka helped defensively with 16 digs.

The Bulldogs came out swinging to start the match, spiking down four kills in addition to an ace and SMSU error to take a 6-0 lead. SMSU responded with a 10-7 run to cut the deficit to three points before a Bulldogs offensive surge pushed the lead back to seven at 18-11. UMD never looked back in game one, scoring six of the final eight points to take the first set.

Set two again saw the Bulldogs pursue an early lead. The Mustangs eventually battled back to tie the game at 8-8, and used a UMD error to take its first lead of the match the point after. There would be five tie scores leading up to 14-14 before SMSU hit the gas and pulled away to lead 19-14. UMD pushed back to cut the deficit to three at 23-20, but the Mustangs stayed resilient to earn the set two win.

SMSU carried the momentum from set two into the third frame to jump out to a 12-6 lead to start. UMD countered with a 9-5 run to battle back to a two-point deficit at 19-17. SMSU again refused to let in, as Jones, VanHeel, Arkell, and Peltier all batted down kills to aid a 6-2 run to close out the third set win.

The action-packed fourth set saw a total of 11 tie scores throughout. A 6-4 UMD lead quickly became a tie at 7-7 before SMSU battled to take the lead at 10-9. The Bulldogs used four kills to pursue a 4-2 run to take back the lead and held the momentum until mid-way through the set. With UMD leading by two, the Mustangs' defense forced three attacking errors while Kuehl swung for a kill to give SMSU an 18-17 lead. However, Payton Addink would not let the UMD offense down, leading the Bulldogs to the next five points to lead SMSU by four. After the teams traded the following two points, UMD seemingly froze, allowing Leah Jones to help in scoring five of the Mustangs' next seven points to close out the match.

The Mustangs are back on the road tomorrow for a match versus No. 8 St. Cloud State (11-2, 5-0 NSIC), with first serve set for 2 p.m.