The Southwest Minnesota State University Mustang women’s volleyball team dropped two matches, one to Wayne State (Mich.), and the other to Grand Valley State in a tournament on Saturday, Sept. 7 in Allendale, Mich. These losses marked SMSU’s first loss to a non-AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) ranked opponent since Sept. 15, 2009 when Wayne State (Neb.) defeated the Mustangs 3-2.

In the first match against Wayne State, the Mustangs lost the first two sets, but bounced back to pick up the third and fourth. However, the Wildcats were too much for the Mustangs, winning the fifth set to take the match 3-2 (22-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 13-15).

Abbey Thissen led the Mustang offense with 19 kills, followed by Claire Sames with 12, Whitney Burmeister with 11 and Jessica Thelemann with 10 to round out the players in double-digits. Rachel Westby led the Mustangs with a total of 28 digs. Emilee Gutzmer tallied a total of 53 assists.

In SMSU’s second match of the day against Grand Valley State, the Mustangs started out strong, picking up a 25-12 victory in set one. However, they were not able to keep up the momentum and dropped the following three sets 21-25, 24-26, 20-25.

Whitney Burmeister led the Mustang offense with a career-high 17 kills. Emilee Gutzmer put up a total of 41 assists. Rachel Westby recovered a total of 21 digs, followed by Whitney Burmeister with 14.