WICHITA FALLS, Texas - Even without its top offensive option, Midwestern State showed its depth and flexed its defensive might by extending its season-best winning streak to six matches taking a 26-24, 25-17, 25-15 Lone Star Conference victory Thursday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
 
The Mustangs improved to 12-6 on the season while moving to 4-5 in league despite sophomore middle blocker Caitlin Wallace sitting out of the game due to injury.
 
MSU concludes the home stand Saturday afternoon against No. 18 Angelo State which improved to 19-2 with a 3-0 win Thursday night at Cameron. First serve is set for 2 p.m. at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
 
"Going in with a winning streak has helped our confidence," MSU coach Venera Flores-Stafford said. "It will definitely be a good match."
 
But Shelbi Stewart (13 kills) and Miranda Byrd (10 kills) delivered big nights on the attack combining 23 kills while committing just five errors to help the Mustangs to a solid .258 team attack percentage.
 
"They have been playing together for three years," Flores-Stafford said. "They have a great working relationship and feed off of each other. It makes it very hard for the defense because they both swing so well. They have a great rhythm."
 
Midwestern turned the tide early on with Abilene Christian on the verge of taking the opening after a Rachel Riley kill gave the Wildcats a set point at 24-22.
 
The Mustangs rallied with consecutive kills by Brandi Flores and Stewart, who put down seven kills in the first set, before ACU's Sara Oxford hit the ball into the tape to set Midwestern up with a set point of its own. Byrd cashed it in with a hard put away to clinch a 26-24 win.
 
"We let them dictate the pace of the in the opening set," Flores-Stafford said. "We talked about what we needed to do to get the game at our tempo and we did it."
 
Freshman setter Kristan Aduddell directed the MSU offense to hitting percentages of .325 and .303 in the final two sets finishing with 22 assists with a stellar .423 set percentage while junior Kimberly Jeffrey pitching in 14 assists.
 
Senior libero Kiara Jordan continued her stellar play with a match-high 25 digs, while Flores and Aduddell had 11 digs and senior Hillary white added 10 digs to go along with eight kills.
 
Senior outside hitter Jennie Hutt had nine kills and 12 digs to lead Abilene Christian. The Wildcats dropped to 10-10 on the season and 4-4 in conference play.