MARSHALL, Minn. – The No. 14 ranked Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team opened its home season on Friday night earning a hard-fought, 3-1 victory over No. 10 ranked St. Cloud State inside the PE Gym. SMSU won by scores of 25-22, 25-15, 29-31 and 25-22.
SMSU, now 8-2 overall, 2-1 NSIC, used a balanced offensive attack with
Mollie Rupp and
Leah Jones each collecting 14 kills, while
Mya Krystosek and
Natalie Pilney both racked up 13 kills.
Sydney Thein dished out 29 assists, while teammate
Tatem Schmidt added 27 assists.
SMSU closed the match hitting .303 with 66 kills on 155 attacks, while SCSU hit .226 with 55 kills on 146 attacks.
SCSU, which was ranked No. 1 in the country earlier this season, dropped its second straight match and falls to 7-4 overall, 1-2 NSIC. Shelby Kimm led the Huskies with 15 kills.
After earning a three-point victory in set one, the Mustangs cruised in set two, using a 5-0 run early in the set to build a 10-5 advantage and never looked back after hitting .484 with 17 kills and just two errors.
In set three, SMSU held a 22-20 advantage and later had four match points, but SCSU was able to hold on and rally for the 31-29 victory.
Set four was tight in the early stages before SCSU used a spurt to build a 17-13 lead. SCSU would later lead 22-20, but a kill by Rupp and a SCSU hitting error tied the score at 22. Following a SCSU kill, SMSU reeled off three straight points behind a kill by Jones, a service ace by
Paige Steinmetz and a kill by
Ashley Peltier.
SMSU continues the weekend homestand on Saturday with a 2 p.m. match versus Minnesota State (3-8, 1-2 NSIC).
