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SMSU VOLLEYBALL: No. 5 Mustangs suffer first loss of season in sweep against No. 20 St. Cloud State

Photo by Sam Thiel SMSU’s Meg Schmidt follows through on a kill during their match against St. Cloud State University on Friday. SMSU fell to St. Cloud State 3-0.

MARSHALL — The No. 5 Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team looked to keep its unbeaten start to the season going when it faced No. 20 St. Cloud State University. Instead, SCSU used a strong offensive performance and held the Mustangs in check to earn a 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-19) victory on Friday in the PE Gym, snapping an 11-match win streak for SMSU.

Mustangs coach Terry Culhane said they had too many mistakes as a group throughout the match and felt they weren’t ready to play against a challenging opponent.

“I just think we made way too many mistakes to beat a good team,” Culhane said. “That’s our own fault, that’s no else’s but our own and I think some parts of it has to do with being ready to play and people we’ve been relying on had rough nights.”

It was back and forth to start, with SCSU holding a 5-3 lead before a kill by Meg Schmidt tied things up at 6-6. The two sides continued to battle, with St. Cloud State using a 6-1 run to go up 12-7 before SMSU answered with a kill by Emma VanHeel and a block to draw to within three at 12-9, but SCSU went on a 5-2 spurt to take a 17-11 lead. The Mustangs continued to battle, though, using a service ace by Angela Young and another block to help trim the deficit to one at 22-21, but SCSU earned the final three points to take Set 1, 25-21.

SCSU continued its momentum to start Set 2, building a 5-1 lead before extending it to 11-2. The Mustangs battled back, however, getting to within five before a pair of aces by Rachel Fink and Payton Hjerleid and a kill from Young drew SMSU to within two at 15-13. But that was the closest the Mustangs got, as SCSU earned four straight points and would hold on the rest of the way to claim Set 2, 25-18 and a 2-0 lead in the match.

The third set was tight in the early stages, with SMSU holding a 10-5 advantage before St. Cloud State trimmed the deficit to just two at 11-9. Three straight kills by SCSU would give them a 16-14 lead, but a kill by Schmidt tied things up again at 16 apiece. But SMSU couldn’t regain the lead, as SCSU built a 23-18 advantage before taking Set 3, 25-19 to earn the sweep.

“I think it’s hard when you start the game and if you’re not ready to go, you don’t get to just turn that switch on,” Culhane said. “And we couldn’t turn it on.”

Schmidt and VanHeel led SMSU with 10 kills each while Katelyn Nichols added eight. Hjerleid led in digs with 15 while Alisa Bengen led in set assists with 29.

As a team, SMSU recorded a hitting percentage of just .167, a season-low, while allowing SCSU to hit over the .300 mark at .308. It’s the second time an opponent has hit better than .200 in a match and is also the highest mark allowed by the Mustangs this season.

Up next

SMSU (11-1 overall, 3-1 NSIC) will wrap up its homestand today with a 2 p.m. matchup against No. 19 Minnesota Duluth.

No. 20 St. Cloud State 3, No. 5 SMSU 0

SCSU 25 25 25

SMSU 21 18 19

Kills: SMSU (VanHeel, Schmidt 10; Nichols 8; Young 6).

Digs: SMSU (Hjerleid 15; Fink 5).

Set Assists: SMSU (Bengen 29).

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