Photo by Samantha Davis. Southwest Minnesota State University head coach Tyler Boddy (left) yells instruction to his team during the second set against Northern State Tuesday evening in the P/E Gym at SMSU in Marshall in the NSIC quarterfinals. The Mustangs fell 3-1, and will next wait to see if they are selected to play in the NCAA Tournament announced next Monday night.

MARSHALL — In the second meeting in just three days between the Mustangs and Wolves with win-or-go-home postseason tournament pressure on the line, the No. 4 Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team fell 3-1 to fifth-seeded Northern State in the quarterfinals of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament Tuesday evening at SMSU in sets of 19-25, 25-20, 18-25 and 25-20.

The loss ends SMSU’s conference tournament run. The Mustangs will now wait to see if they are selected to compete in the NCAA Tournament.

“I definitely thought our team played hard during the whole match,” senior middle blocker Emma VanHeel said. “I think there’s some things that we can take from that match, hopefully going into more postseason play.”

VanHeel led the way with 18 kills and four blocks, followed by Ashley Peltier with 15 kills. Leah Jones added 10 kills with 12 digs, and Sydney Thein finished with a game-high 48 set assists with 14 digs. Overall, SMSU was held to a .181 hitting percentage to NSU’s .248.

The biggest difference however, was the Wolves’ 22 blocks to the Mustangs 10.

“It’s tough to be able to play a team a third time … We obviously knew that going into Saturday’s game, we were going to play each other [again]. It was just a matter of if we were going to play there or play here,” SMSU head coach Tyler Boddy said. “Good for those guys to come here into a packed gym and be able to play as well as they did.”

SMSU and NSU built a history of meeting one another this season for a match of five sets.

The two met Saturday to close out the regular season in South Dakota, with the Mustangs taking the match in sets of 18-25, 25-17, 25-17, 14-25, 15-9. The teams also played one another on Sept. 27 at SMSU, when the Mustangs climbed back for a five-set win after a two-set deficit.

“We’re pretty good at going to game five with this team, just remember that,” Boddy said about what he told his team ahead of the match. “They were ready for battle. I envisioned it going to five again. I thought our team was mentally ready.”

The Mustangs earned the fourth seed in the NSIC tournament after finishing 23-4 overall and 14-4 in conference during the regular season, followed by the Wolves’ 20-6 record and 12-6 conference run.

Much like how competition tends to go between the Mustangs and Wolves, the first set began point-for-point with neither team able to gain more than a 3-point edge.

Jones and Peltier each hit a pair of kills in response to an NSU block and kill, while VanHeel had a quick four kills of her own to help the Mustangs climb back from a short 14-11 trail.

After another kill from Jones and Karli Arkell, NSU grabbed a 4-point advantage with two kills and a block from an SMSU communication error, and forced a Mustangs timeout at 20-16. Arkell finished with eight kills.

Following the reset, Peltier spiked a pair of kills with a McKenzie Tolk service ace so as not to allow the Wolves’ lead to grow.

Tolk finished with a team-high 21 kills. She also was named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, after leading SMSU in last week’s matches against MSU Moorhead and NSU with 5.10 digs a set.

The Minneota native is the first Mustang to win an NSIC defensive weekly honor since Oct. 9, 2023.

With an overarching .395 hitting percentage to SMSU’s .205, NSU took the first set after two more kills and a block. The Mustangs also had six attacking errors and no blocks, to the Wolves two errors and four blocks.

“There’s other things that go into them blocking, whether it’s us not passing the ball very well or maybe not locating the ball,” Boddy said. “We had chances. We just took a lot of balls between us and the net, which we got to show up on.”

After giving Northern State two free points from service errors to begin the second, the rest of the set was all in SMSU’s control.

The P/E gym erupted with “Let’s go Mustangs” chants from the bleachers filled with fans dressed in all black to go with the “Black-Out” theme and an SMSU 7-1 run.

VanHeel held the hot hand and hit six kills alone in the set, which helped build a 22-14 Mustang advantage.

“Emma, Karli and Ashley did a nice job on Saturday for us, and they did the same thing tonight,” Boddy said. “Emma just competes so hard in there … Did a great job again tonight.”

Kennedy Drake and VanHeel also each served an ace, where the Wolves didn’t notch any in the second.

“I think we were able to serve really tough,” VanHeel said. “That made it easy for us to go back and defend after that.”

A bad set and service error brought SMSU to match point, and one more VanHeel kill sealed the deal to tie the series up.

The third set was like the first, with NSU keeping a slight lead over the Mustangs.

That was until another pair of VanHeel kills brought SMSU within 1 point at 13-12, and a block by Jones and VanHeel on the next point tied it up.

An NSU attacking error and a Jones kill got SMSU in front 15-13, but Northern State responded after a timeout with three points to take the single-point advantage back.

The Wolves didn’t let their lead diminish, after finishing the set on a 7-1 run and capitalizing again on SMSU’s eight attacking errors.

“Leaning on teammates and leaning on our coaching staff,” VanHeel said in regards to how the team was navigating the tough competition. “Just trusting what we know as volleyball players, and just using those to lean back on and show up on the next play.”

In a back-and-forth fourth set, NSU grabbed a 4-point lead at 22-18 after an SMSU attacking and serving error. Natalia Szybinska and Hanna Thompson continued to manage the Wolves’ offense and rack up kills as well.

The energy grew and crowd excitement got high with a kill from Arkell and Peltier to cut the deficit following a timeout. But, NSU got its revenge on SMSU and didn’t allow a fifth set to occur after securing match point from a service ace.

The night marked Saari Kuehl’s and VanHeel’s, the two seniors on the squad, last time playing in the P/E gym.

“It’s sad, but it’s cool to see how far I’ve come thinking back to freshman year, and how far I’ve been able to come and grow as a person and volleyball player,” VanHeel said. “It’s been really fun. We’ve [herself and Kuehl] been able to create a lot of connections with our team. It’s been a super close group.”

Boddy also appreciates the impact the duo has left on the team and hopes there’s still more play to go.

“They’re just two great kids. They are great in the classroom, awesome on the floor, they’re good leaders for our team,” Boddy said. “I hope they get to play again in a Mustang uniform. They’ve had a fun career, and they’ve been a part of some good teams and some good seasons.”

SMSU has not won an NSIC quarterfinals game since 2018, the same year it went to the championship match where it fell to Minnesota Duluth.

The Mustangs, now 23-5 overall, will wait until next Monday evening when the NCAA will announce its selections for tournament play at 6:30 p.m. central time. The program is currently ranked No. 7 in the Division II Central Region rankings, as of Nov. 13, however, is one of five NSIC schools ranked behind first-seeded St. Cloud State, No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul, No. 8 Wayne State and ninth-seed NSU.

64 teams are invited to the tournament, with eight selected teams across eight different regions. There are 39 teams, including SMSU, in the central region.

A selection would mark SMSU’s second straight season making the tournament; the first back-to-back occurrence since 2017 and 2018.

“We are going to practice, go watch film, get stronger and try to get some rest,” Boddy said. “Then, hope, hope and hope to see what Monday night brings.”