Photo by Samantha Davis. Southwest Minnesota State University's Sydney Thein sets the ball during the second set against Winona State in the PE Gym Friday evening. SMSU fell 3-1, and Thein had 38 assists on the night. 

MARSHALL — Behind a struggling start, a thrilling third set comeback but a troubled night of errors, the No. 7 Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team fell to Winona State 3-1 Friday evening for a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference match in scores of 25-18, 25-21, 25-23 and 25-18. It marks the team’s first dropped home game of the season.

The game was the Mustangs’ annual Red-Out match, and the bleachers filled with fans and supporters dressed in red. Winona State [13-8, 6-4 NSIC] entered the night off recent success, including a ranked win over then-No. 21 Northern State last week, and are now 6-3 on the road this season.

“I thought they [Winona] played really hard defensively,” SMSU head coach Tyler Boddy said. “You could tell they came to play, and that was no secret for us, but they were very persistent with defensive effort. That was frustrating for us at times.”

Winona came out aggressive on all cylinders and held SMSU to an .131 hitting percentage on the night, compared to its .260. Between attacking, reception and service errors, the Mustangs had 39 while the Warriors finished with 30 overall.

“We talked about it after the game. We had some uncharacteristic errors that we normally haven’t been making, whether it was a hitting error, service error, receiving error, whatever the case may be. They kind of just piled up on us,” Boddy said. “It was just hard for us to get into a rhythm that way.”

Winona’s first set created the tone. It held SMSU to just a .028 hitting percentage, compared to the Warrior’s .289, and also had four blocks and one service error to the Mustangs’ single block and four service errors.

Although the first set began point-for-point, Winona pulled away to a 13-9 lead. Ashley Peltier hit a pair of kills, but a serving and attacking error kept Winona with a cushioned 17-13 advantage and forced an SMSU timeout.

The Warriors grabbed three more points following the reset, and Boddy called another timeout.

An Emma VanHeel kill and Winona attacking mistake gave the Mustangs a pair of points, but the Warriors got its match point by default from an attacking error.

The second set was again in control of Winona throughout, despite a late comeback attempt from the Mustangs.

Winona climbed to an 18-11 lead, and SMSU attempted a rally behind a kill from Karli Arkell, Saari Kuehl and two Warrior attacking errors. Another VanHeel kill and three from Leah Jones cut the Mustang deficit to 22-19.

Jones led the team with 13 kills, followed by Kuel with 12, VanHeel with nine and Arkell added another seven. Sydney Thein paced the offense with 38 assists.

Winona stopped SMSU’s momentum and notched its final pair of points after a Mustang service and attacking error.

“I thought we were prepared [going into the game]. We watched a lot of film on them, and we were, I think, mentally dialed in,” Boddy said. “Winona just played really well, and that’s truthfully.”

The crowd of red grew loud as SMSU came back to the gym for the must-win third set.

The Mustangs found some footing with an immediate 3-0 lead behind Winona attacking errors, two front row blocks and a Jones kill.

Arkell had a team-high five blocks, while Peltier and Kuehl had four apiece.

But, the Warriors responded with three straight points of its own with two kills and an SMSU attacking error.

The set stayed as competitive as it gets, with SMSU fighting to survive and Winona looking to secure a sweep on the road. Nearly the rest of the set was both teams responding to one another’s point.

Mya Krystosek, Jones, Thein and McKenzie Tolk continued to protect the back row.

Krystosek and Tolk each had 14 digs on the night, while Jones and Thein logged 12 and 10 respectively.

An energy changing moment came from a Kuehl kill and VanHeel service ace for the SMSU 20-18 lead.

However, Winona didn’t let its deficit grow more as it grabbed the next two with an ace and kill of their own and were down by one point at 23-22.

In nail biting fashion, SMSU took the set with a kill from an assisted block by VanHeel and Peltier.

“I thought we came out to a good start. We kind of flipped the script a little bit, and we defended hard at the net,” Boddy said. “We made it harder for them to score, which we hadn’t done in the first two games.”

Winona continued to prove it was on a mission and came back fighting in the fourth to jump to a 5-1 advantage.

A pair of kills from VanHeel helped the Mustangs stay in with an 8-4 deficit, but the Warriors forced two more attacking errors and SMSU called a timeout down 10-4.

The Mustangs went on a quick run behind kills from Arkell, Jones and a few Winona attacking errors to cut the deficit to 16-13. But, Winona kept its trend going and cut the rally short with another pair of points.

The chances were slipping away for SMSU as Winona grew to a 23-17 advantage. The Warriors grabbed its final two points and the win from a kill and Mustangs attacking error.

SMSU moves to 17-2 overall and 8-2 in conference and will look to protect home court in a quick turnaround against No. 12 Concordia-St. Paul (13-4, 8-1 NSIC) today in the P/E Gym with a 4 p.m. first serve.

“I think they are motivated to make sure we can try to protect our gym here. I think it’s been a fun community of support,” Boddy said. “Truthfully, I do think our team will be ready tomorrow [Saturday]. We’ll put it behind us, and we’ve been able to do that.”