The SMSU Mustangs defeated the Minot State Beavers 3-0 on Saturday, Nov. 12. The Mustangs, hungry for the NSIC Conference Championship, came out swinging, winning the first set 25-15 and the second set 25-18. By the third set the Mustangs were still blazing away as they scored four unanswered points on Minot. Taylor Reiss served up two aces as the Mustangs cruised to a 25-8 victory over the Beavers.

Reiss had 5 aces, 15 kills, and 3 blocks to lead the Mustangs while Eisha Oden added 12 kills and 4 blocks and Kaylee Burmeister and Brooke Borchardt added 8 and 6 kills respectively. SMSU hit a whopping .471 hitting percentage to Minot State’s .110.

Coach of the year Terry Culhan said, “In this conference [winning’s] not an easy thing to do. It’s what you play the season for and you know it’s a step we wanted to accomplish and we ended up in that position and now we have the conference tournament phase and we’ll see how that goes.”

The two-game sweep this weekend was enough to give the Mustangs a share of the NSIC Conference Championship with Concordia St. Paul. SMSU will be the number two seed in the NSIC Tournament since they lost to Concordia St. Paul earlier in the season. The Mustangs, 24-4 overall, will face number 7 Sioux Falls (USF), 16-12, on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. in the P.E. Gym.