Photo courtesy of WSC Athletic Communications Southwest Minnesota State middle blocker Emma VanHeel sets the ball during the No. 6 Mustangs’ straight-sets loss to Wayne State in Wayne, Neb. on Tuesday night.

WAYNE, Neb. — The No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team suffered its first loss in eight matches, and first 3-0 loss of the season, to No. 1 Wayne State this evening losing by scores of 25-16, 25-21, and 25-18.

As a result, the Mustangs drop to 12-3 in the NSIC, 21-4 overall. The Wildcats increase to 24-1 overall, and remain undefeated in the NSIC at 15-0.

Saari Kuehl led the Mustang attacking crew this evening with 12 kills. She posted a .409 hitting percentage in the match, tallying just three errors on 22 attempts. Leah Jones followed Kuehl with nine of her own kills. Jones added seven digs on the back line. Brooklyn Kusler rounded out the top SMSU attackers with seven kills. Kusler dished one assist on offense and notched one block assist and service ace.

Alisa Bengen dished out 29 assists for the Mustangs, while McKenzie Tolk and Natalee Rolbiecki recorded 17 and eight digs, respectively.

Emma VanHeel was the top blocker for the Mustangs tonight grabbing three block assists.

In the opening set, SMSU played from behind before tying the set at 13-13 before a 7-2 WSC flurry to take a 19-15 lead. The Wildcats led the rest of the way, scoring the final five points to take set one.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 7-4 lead in set two before the Mustangs drove the score to 21-20. Wayne would take control the entire rest of the way en route to a 2-0 lead.

The Mustangs wouldn’t go away in set three, taking their first lead of the match at a score of 15-14. Wayne State would post a 9-1 run in retaliation, running the score 23-16. SMSU would score back to back points off Wildcat errors, but ultimately fell short.

Up next

SMSU travels to Duluth for a rematch with UMD (15-7, 8-6 NSIC) on Thursday, Nov. 2, at 6 p.m.