Southwest Minnesota State frustrated the University of Minnesota Duluth just enough on Friday night to come out on top with a four-set victory (18-25, 23-25, 25-21, 23-25) at the PE Gym in Marshall, Minn. The Bulldogs made 28 errors and hit a pedestrian .210 while the Mustangs were rolling on the offensive end hitting .338 for the match. Southwest Minnesota State (13-5; 8-2 NSIC) never hit below .207 in any set and didn't make more than four attack errors in any set. UMD (15-4; 8-2 NSIC) was just the opposite, making as many as 11 errors in a single set and never hitting better than .263 in any one set. 

The No. 10 Mustangs were able to put to rest the Bulldogs' seven match winning streak and avenge their sweep from last season in the NCAA Central Region Tournament that cut short their season. More importantly, SMSU moved into a tie for third place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference with UMD.

Despite the large difference in hitting percentage, No. 5 Bulldogs had chances to win the second and fourth sets. UMD marched back from a 13-7 deficit in the second set to knot things at 22-all. Sarina Smith gave SMSU the lead again with a kill and Taylor Reiss blocked an attack to give the Mustangs match point. The Bulldogs fended off one set point but made a service error to drop the second. The fourth set displayed UMD holding on to a slight advantage for the majority of the set. Unlike their counterparts in the second, the Bulldogs failed to secure the set. SMSU went on a 7-2 run at 18-21 to close the match. Locked at 23-23, Meg Schmidt clocked back-to-back kills to send the Mustang crowd home with the win.

Sophomore outside hitter Kate Berg and junior setter Emily Torve registered double-doubles in the loss. Berg finished with 16 kills and 13 digs while Torve ended with 48 assists and 11 digs. Berg matched the output of Reiss, the 2017 American Volleyball Coaches Association Player of the Year, who also had 16 kills to lead the Mustangs. Right side hitter Sarah Kelly took another step in the right direction. In her second match back, the senior threw down 15 kills and hit .500 for the match. 

Aside from Reiss, Schmidt had 13 kills and Angela Young compiled 10 kills for SMSU. The Mustangs finished with eight service aces and nine blocks on the Bulldogs. The .338 attack clip strung together by SMSU was the highest attack percentage surrendered by UMD his season and the highest total in 35 matches when the same Mustang squad hit .386 against the Bulldogs in Marshall, Minn. on Sept. 30, 2017.

UMD looks to rebound tomorrow afternoon with an NSIC contest against the University of Sioux Falls in Sioux Falls, S.D. First serve of that match is set to begin at 2:00 p.m.