PITTSBURG, Kan. - Midwestern State completed its sweep of the Pittsburg State Regional Challenge rolling to wins over St. Mary's (Texas) and Missouri Southern Saturday afternoon at John Lance Arena.
The Mustangs, who improved to 10-6 on the season, resume Lone Star Conference play with three home matches this week. MSU takes on Cameron on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in D.L. Ligon Coliseum before tackling Abilene Christian on Thursday and Angelo State on Saturday.
Midwestern erupted for a season-best 10 service aces to key a 19-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-18 victory over St. Mary's in Saturday's first match led by freshman setter
Kristan Aduddell's four-ace performance. Junior setter
Kimberly Jeffrey joined in on the ace parties with three of her own while
Hillary White,
Katie Bertling and
Kiara Jordan each had one.
Jordan led defensive efforts for MSU against the Rattlers posting 24 digs as the Mustangs limited STMU to a .126 team hitting percentage.
The stifling defense forced St. Mary's into 24 errors over the final three sets after the Rattlers came out firing with 13 kills to just three miscues (.256) in the opening frame.
Senior middle blocker
Miranda Byrd paced the MSU attack with 11 kills while junior outside hitter
Shelbi Stewart added 10 and sophomore middle blocker
Caitlin Wallace had nine.
Karlie Ortega put down 12 kills and had 13 digs to lead St. Mary's, which dropped to 13-5 on the season.
White led an offensive explosion for Midwestern in the tournament finale as the Mustangs hit a season-high .333 in a 27-25, 25-18, 25-22 decision over Missouri Southern.
The senior from North Richland Hills put down 13 kills and committed a single error in 23 total attacks for a stellar .522 individual kill percentage.
Byrd and Wallace added eight kills each, while
Brandi Flores also finished with a season-best seven kills and hit .312.
Jordan led the Mustangs' back row effort with 23 digs while Flores added 12 more to complete a solid all-around outing.
Casey Ball had 14 kills and 11 digs to pace Missouri Southern which fell to 3-13.