SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Ashley Peltier unloaded for 15 kills to lead the No. 7 SMSU volleyball team to a 25-21, 19-25, 25-21, 28-26 win over the Augustana Vikings in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference volleyball on Tuesday evening at the Elmen Center.
SMSU improves to 15-1 on the year and 6-1 in NSIC play. AU drops to 9-7 overall and 5-2 in the conference.
Ashley Peltier was the key player for the Mustangs in the win, leading the SMSU attack with a match-high 15 kills on .400 hitting while adding five block assists.
Emma VanHeel followed with 12 kills on .321 hitting while adding four assists and jumping for six block assists.
Saari Kuehl added 11 kills and
Karli Arkell chipped in 10.
Sydney Thein supported the offense with 43 assists and aided the attack with four kills. Thein helped on the back line with nine digs and an ace.
McKenzie Tolk anchored SMSU defensively with a team-high 19 digs.
Maya Wente and Reagan Jansen led Augustana with 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Wente added five block assists and a pair of solo blocks on defense while Jansen recorded 18 digs.
SMSU came out swinging in the first set to lead by six at 8-2, then by eight at 11-3 before an Augustan timeout. An Augustana attack error brought the lead to seven until the Vikings hit the gas and pursued an 8-2 run to cut the lead to one. The Vikings would stay on the tail of the Mustangs until
Ashley Peltier and
Karli Arkell each batted down kills on a 6-3 run to close out the first set.
The teams battled to open the second set and the score eventually settled at 11-11. The battle kept on as the set would come to a standstill at 14-14, 15-15, 16-16, 17-17, and 19-19 before the Vikings, who went on a 6-0 run to close out the set, emerged victorious.
AU carried the momentum over into the third set, using three kills and a pair of service aces to jump out to an early 5-1 lead. SMSU scored the following three points to cut the deficit to one before exploding into a 14-2 run supported by a pair of service aces from
Kennedy Drake and kills from four different Mustang attackers to lead 18-9. The score reached 22-12 in favor of SMSU and AU would not go away, using multiple attacking errors and a barrage of kills to cut the lead to two points.
Ashley Peltier had it her way in the end, scoring all three SMSU points to close the third frame.
The final set was filled with action, featuring 16 tie scores and three lead changes. The Vikings tried their hardest to stay in the match, posting a set-high 18 kills in the last game. The effort was not enough as SMSU stayed resilient, never giving up the lead from 15-14 on to win the match.
SMSU returns home later this week for homecoming weekend. The Mustangs first host UMary on Friday, Oct. 11, with first serve set for 6 p.m., then welcome Minot State the following day.
