DULUTH – The Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team secured its spot in the NSIC Tournament championship match with a five-set victory (25-16, 25-17, 23-25, 26-28, 15-9) over the No. 2 seed Northern State University on Friday night.

Southwest Minnesota State University faces the No. 1 seed University of Minnesota Duluth at 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Romano Gymnasium. UMD defeated the University of Sioux Falls in straight sets on Friday night in the NSIC Tournament semifinals.

Senior outside hitter Taylor Reiss and sophomore outside hitter Angela Young tied with a team-high 21 kills each to lead the Mustangs to the victory. Sophomore middle blocker Sarina Smith and Freshman right side hitter Meg Schmidt each contributed 17 and 13 kills, respectively, as the Mustangs head to the NSIC Tournament championship match.

Sophomore setter Emma Thomssen paced the Mustangs with 61 assists and senior outside hitter Kaylee Burmeister led the defense with 26 digs.

Reiss recorded a double-double with her 21 kills and 19 digs. Junior libero Erin Corrigan added 13 digs while Thomssen added 10 digs.

The Mustangs jumped up to gain a four-point lead in the first set as Young kicked off a four-point run with a kill followed by an error from the Wolves and two consecutive kills from Smith. The Mustangs extended their lead with a 5-0 run, with Thomssen at the line, Reiss delivered two kills and two errors from the Wolves to seal a 16-10 lead.

The Mustangs were steadfast to extend their lead to 24-15 as Young delivered a kill to end the set with a 25-16 score.

Set 2 opened with the Mustangs and Wolves going back-and-forth before the Mustangs were able to go on a run for five unanswered points to never give up the lead in Set 2.

SMSU pushed to extend the lead at 23-16 with six unanswered points to send the Mustangs to a 25-17 set victory.

With the Mustangs ahead 2-0 in the match, the Wolves hit .283 as a team over the Mustangs’ .205 hitting percentage to rally and take the third set.

The Mustangs attempted to end the match as they clung in with 14 tied scores as the Wolves came back to ward off the Mustangs as they took Set 3, 25-23.

The Wolves opened set four with a 6-1 lead attributed to a 6-0 run as the Wolves evenly spread offense delivered four kills and the Mustangs adding two errors. The Mustangs were able then able to tie the set with a 6-0 run of their own with Reiss at the line.

The Mustangs went on to gain a 12-10 lead as the Mustangs dominated at the net with four unanswered kills, three from Young and one chipped in from Smith. As the set extended into extra points, the Wolves topped off the fourth set, 28-26 with a kill and a service ace.

After going up two in the match, the Mustangs proved their dominance with no errors as the match went into the fifth set. The Mustangs went on a crucial 6-0 run sparked by a kill from Jenna Walczak.

The Mustangs pushed through to the match victory as Reiss ended the set, 15-9 to send the Mustangs into the NSIC Tournament championship.

Southwest Minnesota State dropped to eighth in the final NCAA Division II Central Region rankings announced on Wednesday.

Southwest Minnesota State University faces the No. 1 seed Minnesota Duluth at 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Romano Gymnasium. UMD defeated USF in straight sets on Friday night in the NSIC Tournament semifinals.

Content courtesy of

SMSU Athletic

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