FAYETTE, Iowa – No. 9 Southwest Minnesota State defeated Upper Iowa in five sets on Friday night to extend its seven-match winning streak.

SMSU advanced to 20-7 and 15-4 in conference play while UIU dropped to 17-10 overall and 10-9 in conference play in the five-set Mustang victory (25-13, 25-16, 25-18, 25-19).

Taylor Reiss led the match with 23 kills and 23 digs while Emma Thomssen delivered 58 assists to pace the Mustangs and Kaylee Burmeister earned a career-high 34 digs on the night.

The first set went point-for-point after being tied at 7-7 before the Mustangs earned a 4-0 run to go up 11-8. Young recorded back-to-back kills and one from Sarina Smith to give the Mustangs an advantage. The Mustangs strung together seven unanswered points to earn a 20-11 advantage as the Mustangs take Set 1 with a kill from Lexi Ferrell, 25-13.

Mustangs earn an early lead in Set 2 with a 7-0 run to go up 14-7 and stringing together uncontested points to take Set 2 25-16.

With Set 3 locked at 9-9, the Mustangs lost upper hand as Upper Iowa took advantage of two Mustangs error to go down 11-9. The Peacocks maintain the lead to rally and take Set 3, 25-18.

Set 4 went point-for-point with a tied set at 12-12 before a Upper Iowa 5-0 run ended by a kill from Reiss. The Peacocks never looked back to force a fifth set going 25-19 in Set 4.

Set 5 was a locked rally as the Mustangs go up 4-1 with two consecutive kills from Reiss. The Peacocks tie the set as the Mustangs commit three attack errors and a kill delivered by UIU. The set continued going back-and-forth until the Mustangs deliver two kills from Thomssen and Reiss to end the fifth set 15-13 to end the match.

The Mustangs ranked seventh in the latest NCAA DII Region Rankings as they head into the final weekend of the regular season.

Southwest Minnesota State travels to Winona State tomorrow for a 2 p.m. match to complete the end of the regular series road weekend matchups.