PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 11 SMSU volleyball team finishes the SpringHill Suites Invitational with a sweep over Wheeling (W. Va.) by set scores of 25-13, 25-18, and 25-21 this evening on the campus of University of West Florida.
SMSU improves to 4-0 on the year while WHE drops to 1-3.
The Mustangs finished the match hitting .336 with 54 kills, while holding the Cardinals to .139 hitting and 30 kills.
Leading the offense for the Mustangs was
Saari Kuehl,
Emma VanHeel and
Leah Jones. Keuhl finished with a match-high of 13 kills and two digs on defense. Jones swung for 12 kills and 12 digs on defense, securing the ninth double-double of her career. VanHeel swung for 12 kills and added a match-high six blocks on defense.
Sydney Thein recorded her second double-double of the day, helping the offense with 44 assists and back line with 11 digs, while
McKenzie Tolk added a team-high 16 digs.
Samantha Comer, Mady Winters, and Olivia Batch led the Cardinals with each adding eight kills. Riley Kindall added a team-high 13 digs while Karly Niesen set 28 assists in support.
SMSU and Cardinals were even at the start of set one until the Mustangs launched a 5-0 run to bring the score to 15-9. The Cardinals notched one point to make the score 15-10 then Mustangs pushed back with four kills, one attack error on the Cardinals, and one ace to extend the lead to 21-10.
SMSU took set one 25-13, in set two it was a similar start with back-to-back points from both sides, until the Mustangs went on a 6-0 run again to bring the score to 14-9. SMSU secured the second set, after the Cardinals added nine points to make the final score in set two 25-18.
Wheeling (W. Va) led the Mustangs 14-9 in set three, only to see SMSU rally a 4-0 run to dwindle the Cardinals lead to one point. The Mustangs offense comes in clutch with four consecutive kills to make the score 23-20. SMSU would win set three off an attack error and service error on the Cardinals.
The Mustangs continue road series at Springfield, Mo. playing four matches at the Drury Invitational. Mustangs will face off Drury (Mo.) on Sept. 12, Rockhurst (Mo.) and Southern Nazarene (Okla.) on Sept. 13, and round out the Drury Invitational with Newman (Kan.) on Sept. 14.
