MOORHEAD — In a five set thriller, the No. 7 Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team took down Minnesota State University Moorhead in resilient fashion Friday night at the Alex Nemzek Hall. After taking the first two sets, the Mustangs had to fight in the fifth after the Dragons took sets three and four. 

In scores of 30-28, 25-9, 19-25, 21-25 and 18-16, Emma VanHeel led with 19 kills with two blocks, followed by Ashley Peltier with 16 kills, McKenzie Tolk with 26 digs and Sydney Thein with a double-double performance of 60 set assists and 18 digs. SMSU had an overall .238 hitting percentage over MSU’s .197 on the night. 

MSU’s Brielle Riess, a 2024 Marshall High School graduate, led the Dragons with a game-high 27 kills along with 20 digs.  

The Mustangs had to dig deep in the first set to overcome a 7-point deficit. With nearly identical hitting percentages and limited errors, SMSU hit 12 more attack attempts for an advantage in kills. 

The Dragons built a 23-16 lead, with help from a 7-3 run with two kills, a service ace and two Mustang attacking errors. 

SMSU responded on a 7-0 run themselves to tie it up with kills from Peltier, Mya Krystosek, Karli Arkell and a pair of aces from Thein. 

The rest of the set was kill-for-kill, as the last nine points all came from kills between the two teams. It wasn’t until VanHeel and Thein could hit two straight for SMSU to complete the rally back for the extended 30-28 set victory. 

SMSU did not let MSU step out and dominate again going into the second set. 

VanHeel and Peltier each blocked a Dragons attack attempt during an early 7-2 SMSU run, in addition to a Tolk ace and kills from Leah Jones and Saari Kuehl. 

MSU didn’t get more than three straight points, and were held to a .000 hitting percentage with seven attacking errors to SMSU’s .414 mark and single error in the set. 

The Mustangs continued to be solid from the service line, and served another three aces from Krystosek and two from Tolk. 

Building a 23-9 cushion advantage, SMSU finished the set off with a block by Jones and Vanheel along with a VanHeel kill. 

MSU was able to force a fourth set behind aggressive offense, including an 8-1 run in the third to help build a 13-9 lead. 

The Dragons fixed its errors and forced them onto SMSU, who had five attacking errors in the set to MSU’s two. 

Repeating what happened in the first set, the Mustangs found themselves down seven points at 18-11, after MSU continued to block at the front of the net and have effective hitting. The Dragons had four blocks in the set. 

Starting to attempt its second rally back again down 23-16, the Mustangs grabbed three consecutive points to cut the deficit from a VanHeel kill and ace, and a MSU attacking error to force a Dragons timeout. 

But, it wasn’t enough as MSU took the set with a kill and block. 

In a back-and-forth fourth set, neither team was able to grab more than a 4-point edge. Again with a well-balanced effort on all accounts, MSU was able to pull away and bring the match to five sets between three aces and four blocks, to SMSU’s zero aces and two blocks. 

The Mustangs trailed 9-5 midway through the final set after the Dragons notched three straight points from two kills and a block. 

Kuehl and Peltier each hit a kill to come back within two points to prevent a larger deficit from taking place once more. 

VanHeel came up strong at the end of the set with two kills to tie it up at 14. Jones then did the same with another pair to counteract Riess’ kills. 

The set ran long again like the first, until VanHeel and Arkell successfully hit the final two kills for SMSU to finish the night off. 

SMSU moves to 22-4 (13-4 NSIC) and currently sits in third in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Mustangs next travel to Aberdeen, S.D., to take on No. 18 Northern State at the Barnett Center with a 3 p.m. first serve for its final regular season match.