Photo by Gabriel Camargo: Southwest Minnesota State University setter Sydney Thein (center) puts up a set as teammate Karli Arkell (right) charges toward the net during a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference volleyball tournament quarterfinal match against St. Cloud State University, Tuesday at Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud. The Huskies swept the Mustangs, handing SMSU its fifth consecutive NSIC quarterfinal loss.

ST. CLOUD — Paige Steinmetz’s well-rounded performance wasn’t enough to help the Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team end its postseason schneid when the sixth-seeded Mustangs took on the No. 3 St. Cloud State Huskies in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference quarterfinals at Halenbeck Hall on Tuesday night. The Mustangs fell 25-14, 25-21, 25-12 in their postseason opener, marking the fifth consecutive year in which SMSU has fallen in the conference quarterfinals.

Steinmetz’s 10 kills and 10 digs were both team-highs for the Mustangs. Still, the Huskies were too much for SMSU to handle; St. Cloud put together a .370 hitting percentage while limiting SMSU to a .103 clip.

The Mustangs were ranked No. 13 in the latest Division II coaches poll while the Huskies were ranked No. 11. In the central region poll, St. Cloud State was ranked sixth while SMSU did not make the top 10.

Eight teams from each region qualify for the NCAA tournament, including three automatic bids for the champions of the NSIC, the Great American Conference and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. Needing to leapfrog several teams in order to qualify for the NCAA tournament, SMSU’s hopes of advancing to its third consecutive Division II tournament now appear slim.

The loss marks SMSU’s ninth consecutive postseason loss between the NSIC and NCAA tournaments, with their last win coming against Northern State in the 2018 NSIC semifinals. The Mustangs went on to fall in four sets to Minnesota Duluth in the NSIC championship and Concordia-St. Paul in the first round of the NCAA regional that season.

The Mustangs played their most competitive volleyball in the second set of Tuesday’s loss. The two teams went point-for-point early on, with a St. Cloud attacking error followed by kills from Karli Arkell and Leah Jones giving SMSU the night’s first multi-point lead at 9-7​.

Still, the Mustangs couldn’t pull away. SMSU and St. Cloud continued to battle back and forth until a kill from Sam Zimmerman and an SMSU attacking error gave the Huskies a 19-18 lead.​

Tied at 19 points apiece, a Zimmerman kill and a Laurin Hamann ace put the Huskies on top. Natalie Pilney came up with a kill after SMSU called a timeout, but an Ella Thompson kill and another Mustang attacking error gave St. Cloud a 23-20 lead.

The Mustangs called their final timeout and Steinmetz followed up with a kill for the Mustangs, but a Thompson kill and an Abby Wachal service ace gave the Huskies the 25-21 win and a two-sets-to-none edge.

In addition to Steinmetz’s 10 kills on a .240 hitting percentage, Ashley Peltier and Jones contributed six kills each while middle blockers Pilney and Arkell added four apiece. Peltier hit for a .278 hitting percentage while Jones finished with a -.029 clip.

Thein logged 26 set assists with a pair of errors for SMSU. The mark was her lowest set assist total of the season by six, and she tied her career-low from her eighth career start against Newman on Sept. 14, 2024.

Shelby Kimm’s attacking prowess was a major factor in the Huskies’ success at the net. The junior outside hitter finished with 15 kills on a .364 hitting percentage, while Zimmerman added nine and Wachal and Thompson contributed eight apiece. Braya LaPlant logged 40 set assists on one error for the Huskies.​

The Mustangs got off to a sluggish start in the third set and the Huskies capitalized. St. Cloud claimed each of the frame’s first 4 points, 3 of which came on kills from Kimm, and built on that early success for a 9-1 lead.

SMSU never recovered, falling behind by double digits at 13-3 and trailing by as many as 14 points in the 25-12 loss.

Steinmetz and libero McKenzie Tolk tied with a team-leading 10 digs for the Mustangs while Jones and Kennedy Drake added 10 and six.

An Arkell solo block and a combined block from Thein and Peltier accounted for the Mustangs’ only front-row defensive statistics of the night, while St. Cloud finished with eight blocks as a team behind an ace block from Kimm and four block assists each from LaPlant and Emilie Planert.​

St. Cloud State claimed each of the first 5 points in the first game to set the tone for the day before a trio of kills from Peltier and another pair from Steinmetz helped SMSU claw its way back to within a point at 5-6.

After the teams traded points, however, St. Cloud responded with 6 unanswered points to begin to pull away. The lead grew double digits at 20-10 and St. Cloud claimed 5 of the final 7 points in the game to claim the first set 25-14.

Thein accounted for both of SMSU’s service aces, but they were balanced out by the Huskies serving up eight, including three from Laurin Hamann and another pair from Wachal.

SMSU falls to 21-7 overall on the season with the loss with a 14-6 record in conference play during the season. SMSU will now hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, with the selection show slated for Monday at 7:30 p.m.​

Should the Mustangs miss out on the tournament, Tuesday’s match was the final career match for seniors Arkell, Tolk and Kenna Bixby. Arkell and Tolk, a Lamberton and a Minneota native, respectively, each spent their full four years with the Mustangs after playing out their true-freshman seasons. Bixby, meanwhile, transferred to SMSU after spending her first two seasons at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, Ill.