WINONA — The Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team (15-3 overall, 7-3 NSIC) suffered its third loss of the season on the road against Winona State (17-2, 8-2) 25-21, 25-19, 22-25, 18-25, 15-10 on Friday night.

Meg Schmidt and Angela Young each collected 19 kills to lead the Mustang offense, with Scmidt adding four blocks and six digs, and Young tallying 13 digs and five blocks. Payton Hjerleid finished with a season-high 22 digs and Katelyn Nichols blocked a career-high nine attacks to lead the defense. Alisa Bengen paced the offense with 33 assists and added 13 digs.

The Mustangs didn’t show any signs of travel fatigue early on, racing to a 9-4 lead before an early timeout by WSU. WSU responded with a 5-1 run of their own before the game would balance out. Each team would trade blows until SMSU led 18-16, when a 4-0 WSU run would put them ahead 20-18 and force a Mustang timeout. WSU would come out of the timeout scoring three of four points to force another timeout leading 23-19, and would score two of three points following the timeout to take set one.

SMSU would jump to a 7-5 lead early in the second set before a 4-0 WSU run would force the Mustangs to call their first timeout, and a 3-1 WSU run would make them use their second timeout trailing 12-8. A 5-1 run late would narrow a WSU lead to 22-19, but Winona would score three straight points to go up two sets to none.

WSU would take a 9-7 lead into the third set before the Mustangs offense began to click. A 5-1 run would shoot SMSU to a 12-10 lead. WSU would tie the set at 12, but a pair of blocks and a kill would put SMSU in front 15-12. WSU would score three straight to tie the set at 15 before the teams would split the next six points. With a 18-18 score, the Mustangs would go on a 7-4 run to seal the set.

The Mustangs carried the momentum into the fourth set, scoring the first five points of the match and leading 8-3 early. WSU would score five consecutive points to tie the set at 8-8 and force a SMSU timeout. SMSU would be the aggressor out of the timeout, going on an 8-3 run to lead 16-11, and keeping the pressure on for the rest of the set to force set five.

The fifth set started with four consecutive errors, one by SMSU and three by WSU, to give SMSU a 3-1 lead. SMSU would jump to a 7-4 lead, but four straight Mustang errors and a kill would give WSU a 9-7 lead into a SMSU timeout. WSU would score another point to force another SMSU timeout, and then score four more in a row to take a 14-7 lead. A 3-0 SMSU would not be enough, as Madison Rizner delivered the final blow to take the match.

SMSU outhit WSU .204-.194, with WSU collecting 60 kills to SMSU’s 58.

Halle Jansen delivered a career-high nine kills while adding two blocks for the Mustangs, and Emma VanHeel added seven kills and five blocks.

The Mustangs end their week today, traveling to Fayette, Iowa to battle the Peacocks of Upper Iowa at 5 p.m.

— Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications