PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 11 SMSU volleyball team came away with another win at the SpringHill Suites Invitational, defeating regional opponent Oklahoma Baptist 3-0 by set scores of 28-26, 25-21, and 25-17 earlier today on the campus of the University of West Florida.

SMSU improves to 3-0 on the year while OBU drops to 2-1 after suffering its first loss.

The Mustangs finished the match hitting .202 with 46 kills, while holding the Bison to .116 hitting and 33 kills.

A trio of hitters in Leah Jones, Saari Kuehl, and Emma VanHeel led the SMSU offense. Jones finished with a match-high 13 kills and 16 digs on defense, securing the eighth double-double of her career. Kuehl swung and VanHeel swung for nine kills apiece, with both players adding a block. Sydney Thein logged a double-double as well, supporting the offense with 39 assists and back line with 10 digs, while McKenzie Tolk added a team-high 20 digs.

Avery Hellmuth and Jill Leslie led the Bison with 10 and nine kills, respectively. Hunter Kasryn added a match-high 21 digs while Emily Boyer set 29 assists in support.

 SMSU jumped out to an early 8-3 lead to kick off the first set before OBU launched a 7-2 run to bring the score back to within one at 11-10. The Mustangs pushed back with three kills and an ace to take a 17-13 lead before the Bison battled back to a 22-22 tie going into the final points of the set.

After four more tie scores, back-to-back attacking errors on the Bison gave SMSU the game one win at 28-26.

Oklahoma Baptist led the Mustangs 15-14 in game two, only to see SMSU rally to build a 2-0 match lead.

SMSU trailed 5-3 in set three only to reel off 10 of the next 12 points with a pair of kills and an ace from Emma VanHeel and to build an 13-7 lead and never looked back in cruising to the victory.

The Mustangs are scheduled to play (RV) Wheeling (W. Va.) in their last match of the SpringHill Suites Invitational later today at 4:30 p.m.