Photo by Jake McNeill Southwest Minnesota State University outside hitter Leah Jones shoots the ball over a pair of UMary blockers during the first set of a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference volleyball match at the PE Gym in Marshall on Friday evening. The No. 7 Mustangs defeated the Marauders in straight sets.

MARSHALL – For the fifth straight head-to-head matchup, the No. 7 Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team defeated Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foe UMary on Friday night. Saari Kuehl collected 17 kills for the Mustangs as they picked up a 25-17, 25-14, 25-20 win to remain a perfect 27-0 all-time against the Marauders.

In addition to the volume of her attacks, Kuel was also efficient. She had just one hitting error and finished with a .593 hitting percentage, leading the Mustangs to a team mark of .396. Emaa VanHeel also added 11 kills on a .524 hitting percentage with five total blocks, while Leah Jones scored another 10 blocks in the match.

VanHeel kills accounted for four of the Mustangs’ first 9 points in the first set as they jumped out to a 9-2 lead. The Marauders cut the deficit to just 3 points, 14-11, but SMSU kept them out of reach before closing out the 25-17 victory with four unanswered points.

UMary’s only lead of the match came when a Holli Klettheimer kill gave them a 3-2 lead in the second set. Still, VanHeel got a pair of kills and combined with Jones and Sydney Thein for blocks as SMSU took the lead with a 7-0 run.

UMary’s Gabby Caskey ended the run with a kill, but SMSU responded with a trio of more kills from VanHeel, Jones and Kuehl, as well as a Jones service ace, to continue to extend the lead.

SMSU steadily expanded its lead from there before claiming the 25-14 win.

Libero McKenzie Tolk led the Mustangs defensively with 14 digs in the match, while My Krystosek and Kennedy Drake added 11 and eight, respectively. Thein, Jones and Karli Arkell each also played key defensive roles with two block assists each, keeping UMary to a .211 hitting percentage.

UMary libero Kaia Sueker led the Marauders with 15 digs in the match. A 2019 product of Marshall High School, Friday was Sueker’s last court appearance against SMSU in Marshall as she completes her fifth season with the Marauders.

After finishing the second set strong, SMSU never let the Marauders get into set 3 by opening with 4 unanswered points. UMary never got closer than 3 points to the Mustangs the rest of the night in the closeout 25-20 win.

Thein recorded 41 set assists without an error for SMSU, while UMary’s Maddy Freed recorded 29 set assists with five errors.

Caskey and Klettheimer led the Marauders with nine kills each, while Maddie Cooper added eight more with a .412 hitting percentage.

SMSU improves to 16-1 overall with the win and their 7-1 conference record keeps them tied with Concordia-St. Paul for third place in the NSIC behind Wayne State (8-0) and St. Cloud State (7-0). UMary, meanwhile, falls to 2-13 overall and 0-7 in the NSIC.

The Marauders are tied with Minot State, which will host the Mustangs today at 1 p.m. SMSU is a perfect 15-0 all-time against Minot State and has defeated the Beavers in 14 of their 15 games, the exception being a 3-2 victory. about the Beavers in Minot in 2022. Today marks the first time the Mustangs have hosted Minot State since 2021.