St. Paul, Minn. (Gangelhoff Center) - Behind McKell Anderson's career high 18 kills, the Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team defeated Minnesota State, Mankato in straight sets in the quarterfinal match of the 2012 Northern Sun Intercollegiat Conference / US Bank Tournament. SMSU earned the victory with set wins of 25-11, 26-24, and 25-16.

The win was the third time the Mustangs have defeated the Mavericks this season and sixth in the row. As a unit, SMSU hit .379 with only eight errors which was much improved from the last outing against MSU. SMSU would avoid the powerful Maverick blocking defense as the Mustang attackers were denied just one time.

SMSU came out hot early as it built an 8-5 lead over the Mavericks in set one. SMSU and MSU would trade points to get the score to 12-9. The Mavericks and Mustangs would go toe-to-toe in an extended volley that would be capped off with a momentum-swinging block assist by Devin Diedrich and Abbey Thissen to put the Mustangs up 13-9. SMSU would take the momentum and pour it on as the Mustangs would post a 6-0 run to take the set 25-11. McKell Anderson fronted the attack as she had seven kills in the first set.

Unlike the first set, SMSU started slow as the Mustangs dug themselves into an early 8-3 hole. SMSU would claw back into the set when Abbey Thissen tied the score at 15-15  with one of her seven kills. The rest of the set was tight as the two teams would continue to trade blows with nine tie scores and four lead changes. MSU would fend off SMSU's first set point with a Chelsea Fogarty kill but SMSU would retaliate with back-to-back Mary Groth kills to take the set 26-24.

The third set mirrored the first, as SMSU jumped out to an early lead, this time to the tone of a 4-0 lead. MSU was forced to take a timeout to stop the momentum. MSU would manage to tie the set at 6-6 and 7-7 but SMSU would flex its muscles down the stretch. SMSU used a 6-1 run late in the set to pull away from the Mavericks to capture the match.

McKell Anderson led all attackers with 18 kills, while Mary Groth followed with eight. Abbey Thissen and Brooke Burmeister each had seven kills. The defense was led by Rachel Westby as she had 11 digs, while the offense was set-up by Emilee Gutzmer and her 39 assists. With her second kill of the match, Brooke Burmeister tallied her 1,500th career kill in a Mustang uniform, she is the third Mustang to reach the 1,500 kill milestone this season.

SMSU will advance to the semifinal round and will take on the No. 3 seed Minnesota Duluth tomorrow at 4:30 p.m.