SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The SMSU volleyball team launched an offensive onslaught on Friday evening to down the Southern Nazarene (Okla.) Crimson Storm in four sets at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.

SMSU extends its win streak to seven and sits at 7-0 overall while SNU falls to 1-6.

A trio of hitters in Emma VanHeel, Leah Jones, and Saari Kuehl each recorded 11 kills to guide the Mustangs offense. VanHeel added four digs and three block assists, while Jones tallied nine digs and a pair of assists. Ashley Peltier hit for nine kills in support of the offense, while Sydney Thein posted four kills with 45 assists, nine digs, and a pair of aces. 

McKenzie Tolk and Mya Krystosek anchored the back line with 17 digs apiece, while Kennedy Drake led the team with three service aces.

Kate Wright led the Crimson Storm with 14 kills on .333 hitting, while recording seven digs and three blocks on defense. Emma Grace Moddelmog set the SNU offense up with 18 assists.

SMSU made quick work of the Crimson Storm to begin the first set, leaping out to a commanding 12-4 lead. The Mustangs did not let up, smashing kill after kill and taking advantage of SNU hitting errors to close the set on a 15-4 run. SMSU held the Crimson Storm to a negative hitting percentage in the first set while boasting .321 hitting on 12 kills.

The Crimson Storm battled back in set two, answering every Mustang score to eventually settle the game at 10-10. SNU did not let up, pursuing a 9-5 run to take a four-point lead and force a Mustang timeout. The Mustangs came out of the timeout on a 6-4 run but the effort was not enough, as the Crimson Storm held on to steal a set. 

The Mustangs shifted back into true form in the third frame, jumping out to a 13-4 lead supported by three service aces from freshman Kennedy Drake. The Storm eventually got things going, but were quickly countered by SMSU after committing numerous errors on the offensive end. An ace from Paige Steinmetz and a kill by Sydney Thein locked up the set and gave the Mustangs a 2-1 lead.

SMSU continued its dominance into the fourth set, leading 12-5 midway through the final frame. Never looking back, SMSU swung for 16 kills in game four on .361 hitting to close out the match.

SMSU concludes the Drury Invitational tomorrow, with a match up against Newman (Kan.) at 11 a.m.