DULUTH — After going up two sets, No. 11 Southwest (13-8, 7-6) Minnesota State dropped a five-set match to Minnesota Duluth (19-2, 12-1 NSIC) on Saturday night at the Romano Gymnasium.

The Mustangs hit .215 to total 62 team kills with 25 errors as the Bulldogs hit .193 with 54 team kills and 23 errors.

Jenna Walczak lead the match with a career-high 18 kills and one error to hit a .472. Three other Mustangs contributed double-figures as Angela Young finished with 16, Zoe Lier finished with 11, and Meg Schmidt with 10.

Emma Thomssen paced the Mustangs with a match-high 51 assists as Payton Hjerleid led the defense with 21 digs.

The Mustangs paced to two early set victories with 25-18 and 25-22. The Bulldogs then came back to open the set with an 11-1 advantage. The Bulldogs would then sail to a 25-13 victory in set three and squeezed out a 25-23 victory in set four to force the match into the fifth set.

The Bulldogs then maintained an upper-hand in the fifth set to go for a 15-5 third set victory with a .545 hitting percentage.

Kate Berg led the Bulldogs with 15 kills.

Southwest Minnesota State travels to Sioux Falls on Thursday, Oct. 31., for a 6 p.m. match at the Stewart Center.

— Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications