WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Helped by Lissette Lefforge's 16 kill performance, Midwestern State came back to beat Arkansas Tech after dropping the first two sets. The Mustangs fought in the final three sets to bring home the 3-2 (18-25, 19-25, 25-13, 25-21, 15-13) win to D.L. Ligon Coliseum on Saturday.

"Today was a great win for our team on our Fall 2021 journey," said Head Coach Valerie Armstrong. "We battled back from two sets down to win in five. That shows the true grit of our team and our ability to fight back."

MSU tallied only five kills in set one, while allowing seven errors for a negative hitting percent. In total, Lauryn Bourne and Kelli Ell added nine kills each to sit with Lefforge on the leaderboard.The Golden Suns made 14 kills to start the match with Tymber Riley leading  ATU overall with 14 kills and added one block assist.

The Mustangs upped their game in the second set, hitting eight kills while Arkansas Tech notched nine. Both teams recorded a 0.028 hitting percent in that set. On the net, Alex Serna registered a season-best six blocks while Taylor Anderson and Lefforge contributed four each. For the Golden Suns, Emily Ragsdale has an impressive 11-block game.

"The team really started hitting the shots we asked them to and executed the game plan," said Armstrong.

Specifically Midwestern State hit 16 shots in the third set to help begin the comeback. The team had only six errors and collected 31 percent hitting. ATU was held to only four kills in 28 attack attempts. Autumn Roach tallied the most assists with 23 and Reagan Willms followed with 16. The Golden Suns' Brianna Merkel had 21 helpers on the match.

In set four, MSU posted 17 kills and Arkansas Tech put up five. Amy DeWalt registered her best passing performance of the year, gaining 22 digs for the Mustangs. Trysta Foster made 17 for the visitors.

In the 15-point final set, both teams recorded eight kills though Midwestern State made only three errors compared to ATU's five. For service aces, Madison Grantham and Ragsdale each had three for the Golden Suns while Willms notched two for the home side.

"I'm proud of them and excited for another chance to get better next week and start conference play," said Armstrong.

After completing the Hampton Inn-Vitational and the last non-conference games of the season, Midwestern State begins conference play on Friday, Sept. 17. The team travels down to Laredo, Texas, to take on Texas A&M International in the first Lone Star Conference match of 2021.