Photo by Sam Thiel SMSU’s Taylor Reiss serves the ball during their match against Minnesota State University, Mankato on Friday. The Mustangs defeated the Mavericks 3-0.

MARSHALL – Top ranked Southwest Minnesota State (20-1, 13-1 NSIC) never trailed through three sets and tied a school record with its 16th consecutive home win in a 25-15, 25-21, 25-14 sweep over Minnesota State on Friday night in the PE Gym.

Wearing red uniforms in the team’s annual “Red Out” match to support awareness for heart disease, SMSU dominated early and weathered short runs from the Mavericks in the second set on the way to the 12th sweep of the season for the Mustangs.

Taylor Reiss had a match-high 11 kills on just 19 swings with one error for a hitting percentage of .526 to lead the SMSU attack. Setter, Megan Larson, had 33 assists on top of nine digs, one kill and two block assists.

Larson also contributed one service ace as the Mustangs racked up eight total aces as a team with four different SMSU players picking up at least one ace. Payton Hjerleid finished with a match-high four aces on the night.

The Mustangs’ starting middle blockers, Sarina Smith and Brooke Borchardt combined for 16 kills, six block assists and one solo block from Borchardt.

SMSU was dominant early holding MSU to a -.037 hitting percentage in the first set. The Mustangs went on a 5-0 run that included four errors from MSU to give SMSU a 13-6 advantage. The Mustangs would finish the first set with a .500 attack percentage after racking up 12 kills and just one attack error on the way to a 25-15 win to go ahead one set.

The Mustangs dominated early in game two as well as they forced an MSU timeout by taking a 9-3 lead to start the set. A 7-3 run from MSU got the Mavericks to within two points which the Mustangs’ responded to with a 6-3 run of their own. The Mavericks responded with another run of solid attacking play but the Mustangs maintained their lead with the help of back-to-back service errors from MSU. SMSU closed the set with a 5-2 run to go ahead by two sets with a 25-21 win.

SMSU took control of the third and final set with an 8-0 run that was spurred by four service aces from Payton Hjerleid which gave the Mustangs a 14-5 advantage. Another 7-1 run from SMSU put the match out of reach for MSU as the Mustangs began pulling their starters towards the end of the third game.

SMSU will be back in action tomorrow as they host No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul beginning at 2 p.m., in a rematch of the Colo. Premier Championship from Sept. 9 which the Mustangs won, 3-1. CSP when 3-1 in four matches between the schools in 2016.

Content courtesy of SMSU Athletic Communications