MINOT, N.D. – A stronghold defense and consistent attacking effort led the No. 5 Mustangs to a 3-0 sweep over Minot State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference volleyball at the MSU Dome on Friday night. 

SMSU, now 9-0 overall and 1-0 in NSIC play, earns its 15th consecutive win over the Beavers to extend its unbeaten streak in the all-time series. The Mustangs have won seven consecutive conference openers. 

MISU drops to 1-7 on the year and 0-1 in the NSIC.

Ashley Peltier led a balanced SMSU attack with 11 kills on .435 hitting, while adding four digs and three block assists. Saari Kuehl followed closely behind with nine kills on .429 hitting, while Emma VanHeel, Leah Jones, and Karli Arkell tallied seven kills apiece. Arkell hit a perfect 1.000 percentage at the net and added a pair of block assists. Freshman Natalie Pilney recorded four kills on .375 hitting.

Sydney Thein supported the attack by tallying another double-double with 36 assists and 10 digs. McKenzie Tolk anchored the back line with 24 digs and set six assists.

Paulina Kowalska led Minot State with eight kills. A pair of players tallied 10 assists each to support the attack while the defense was led by Kelci Madrid, who logged 15 digs.

MISU used four kills to quickly jump out to a 5-3 advantage in the first set. The Mustangs turned things around with a 13-5 run backed by kills from five Mustangs to take a 16-10 lead. SMSU never looked back, scoring the final nine points to capture the first set victory and take a 1-0 lead.

The SMSU attacked picked up right where it left off, scoring the first six points of the second set to lead 6-0 before another pair of kills and three Beaver attacking errors extended the lead to eight at 11-3. The Mustangs again outpaced the Beavers to the final point, capturing a 14-point win in game two.

Minot State tried its hardest to battle back in the final set, limiting SMSU to .212 hitting with seven attacking errors while posting its only positive hitting percentage of the night at .180. The Minot State defense still failed to stop the Mustangs' attacking unit, as Ashley Peltier and Saari Kuehl each swung for five kills in game three to lead SMSU to the sweep. 

SMSU posted 51 kills on .315 hitting with seven total blocks, while MISU was limited to 27 kills on .063 hitting.

The Mustangs return to the court tomorrow with a match versus UMary (2-7, 0-1 NSIC) in Bismarck, N.D., with first serve set for 12 p.m.