MARSHALL, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Crookston volleyball team made No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State University work for it, but fell 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 26-24) despite three highly-contested sets Sat., Oct. 22 in Marshall, Minn.

The Golden Eagles fall to 9-13 (5-9 NSIC) with the loss, while the Mustangs improve to 19-3 (13-1 NSIC) with the win. UMC is sitting in a tie for ninth in the NSIC standings with Minnesota State University, Mankato after the weekend. They still have playoff hopes in sight, just three matches back of eighth place.

Minnesota Crookston was without leading offensive player Maggie Perrel (R-Jr., OH, New Germany, Minn.) for the match. However, UMC still had a strong performance as they had 27 kills and 16 errors, hitting .147 for the match.

UMC looked to Kassi Green (R-Jr., OH, Anoka, Minn.), who had 12 kills and hit .249 on the day. Kali Erickson (Sr., OH, Fargo, N.D.) chipped in six kills and hit .176, while Rachel Freund (R-Jr., OH, Jordan, Minn.) stepped into the line-up and had five kills and hit .118.

Sierra Trost (Sr., S, Ham Lake, Minn.) would finish the match with 26 assists.

Defensively, UMC looked to nine digs from Becca Vandenheuvel (Jr., DS/Lib., Cannon Falls, Minn.) who stepped into the libero role for the match.

Southwest Minnesota State was balanced for the match as Taylor Reiss, Sarah Parker and Kaylee Burmeister all had 10 kills apiece. Eisha Oden would add eight kills for the Mustangs.

At setter, Megan Larson would finish with 35 assists and help SMSU to 40 kills and 18 errors with a .250 hitting percentage.

Defensively, the Mustangs looked to 11 digs rom Amber Messner. Their block was also strong as Parker finish with four block assists, while Oden and Larson each had three block assists.

The Golden Eagles would get within 24-21 of the Mustangs in set one after a Kassi Green kill. However, a Reiss kill would deliver the close set 25-21 for SMSU.

The Mustangs would control the majority of the second set and would win 25-19 to go up 2-0 on the match.

Set three would be a tight one as Minnesota Crookston would lead 22-20 after a Burmeister attack error. The Golden Eagles would again be knotted up, this time at 24-24, after an Erin Corrigan service error. However, SMSU would respond with a Freund attack error and a Parker kill to win the set 26-24 and the match 3-0.

Minnesota Crookston will return to action Fri., Oct. 28 as they face Wayne State College at 6 p.m. at Lysaker Gymnasium.