DULUTH – The No. 3-seeded Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team fell 3-1 (25-15, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22) to top-seeded Minnesota Duluth in the championship match of the NSIC Tournament held in the Romano Gymnasium on Saturday night.

UMD (27-5), the co-NSIC regular season champions, earn the NSIC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

SMSU played Saturday’s match without NSIC Player of the Year Taylor Reiss, who missed the match with an injury.

Reiss and teammate Kaylee Burmeister were each named to the All-Tournament team.

Four Mustangs delivered double figures as Angela Young led the way with 19 kills and a .359 hitting percentage. Burmeister, who has predominately played libero this season, transitioned over to record 16 kills and 10 digs. Sydney Omtvedt let the defense with 15 digs while Emma Thomssen recorded 58 assists.

The Mustangs were overpowered in the first set as the Bulldogs went for a .545 hitting percentage with 14 kills off 22 attempts. The two teams battled at 9-9 before UMD went on to gain a 12-11 advance and extended lead with four unanswered points to go up 16-11. UMD never looked back to take Set 1, 25-17.

The Mustangs trailed 17-14 in the Mustangs went for five consecutive points as Young and Lexi Ferrell delivered two kills each and an attack error would give the Mustangs an 18-17 edge. UMD regained the upper-hand with set tied 23-23 to take the set, 25-23.

SMSU lead nearly the entire third set to stay alive in the match with only one mere tied score and no lead changes. The Mustangs secured the set victory with their largest lead of the of the set with 4-0 run to go up 17-13. UMD became a threat with SMSU at set point and the score 24-23 but the UMD committed an error for the Mustangs to earn a set three victory, 25-23.

UMD earned its largest lead of the set at 21-18 before the Mustangs scraped together two consecutive points to close in at 21-20. UMD kept the lead to take the fourth set, 25-22 and win the title.

SELECTION

SUNDAY

INDIANAPOLIS – For the 15th consecutive season and the 16th time in program history, the Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team has qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

The NCAA national committee announced the 64-team field on Sunday night with SMSU earning the No. 5 seed in the eight-team Central Region Tournament which will be held in Kearney, Neb. The three-day tournament will be held at the University of Nebraska-Kearney’s Health & Sports Center starting on Thursday, Nov. 15.

SMSU (23-8) will face No. 4 seed Concordia-St. Paul (22-8) in the tournament quarterfinals with the match time announced later Sunday night or Monday morning. The two teams played three times this season with CSP winning 3-0 in the championship match of the Colorado Premier Challenge on Sept. 1, and then earning a 3-2 victory in St. Paul on Sept. 22. SMSU won the third meeting, 3-1 in Marshall on Oct. 26.

Nebraska-Kearney, which won both the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), regular season and tournament championship, is the region’s No. 1 seed and will face No. 8 seed Harding (Ark.), which won the Great American Conference Tournament championship on Saturday.

Minnesota Duluth earned the No. 2 seed and will face No. 7 seed Central Missouri from the MIAA, while Washburn (Kan.) from the MIAA earned the No. 3 seed and will face No. 6 seed Northern State in the other two quarterfinal matches.

The winner of the region tournament will advance to the eight-team NCAA Championships held Nov. 29-Dec. 1, at the A.J. Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh. The championship, which is part of the NCAA Division II National Championship Fall Festival, will be hosted by Clarion University (Pa.), Slippery Rock University (Pa.) and SportsPITTSBURGH.

SMSU enters the NCAA Tournament having faced 13th nationally ranked teams this season compiling an 8-5 record.

SMSU is 17-15 all-time in the NCAA Tournament with one region championship and NCAA national runner-up finish in 2014. The Mustangs have advanced to the region championship match three times in 2011, 2014 and 2016.

NCAA Central Region Tournament

*All matches will be held at the Health & Sports Center in Kearney, Nebraska.

Match times announced on Sunday or today.

Thursday

No. 3 Washburn vs.

No. 6 Northern State

No. 2 Minnesota Duluth vs. No. 7 Central Missouri

No. 4 CSP vs.

No. 5 SMSU

No. 1 Nebraska-Kearney vs. No. 8 Harding (Ark.)

Friday

Semifinal matches

Saturday

Championship Match

Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications