SAN ANGELO, Texas – For the third time this season, St. Edward's defeated Midwestern State, eliminating the Mustangs in the quarterfinals of the Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship at Junell Center on Thursday night, 3-1 (25-16, 22-25, 25-11, 25-21).
After dropping the first set, the Mustangs hit .367 in the second set to pull even with the Hilltoppers, who won four of the last five points in the fourth set to secure the victory and advance to the semifinals.
Nyle Mathis led MSU with 15 kills and 16.0 points, adding two block assists. Jenna Redding recorded a team-high 16 digs, four assists and had the only service ace for the Mustangs. Macy Scheer finished with 36 assists, eight digs and five block assists. Dickens added nine kills and a team-high six total blocks.
Midwestern State had nine blocks, one more than the Hilltoppers, but finished the match with a .144 hitting percentage, while St. Edward's hit .248 for the match.
Kelli Fording led the Hilltoppers with 18.5 points and hit .237. Fording had two of the seven service aces for St. Edward's. Grace McDonald contributed 14.5 points and was in on five of the eight blocks for St. Edward's. Giselle Ojeda had 17 of the 65 digs for St. Edward's, which had 22 more attacks than the Mustangs.
In the first set, St. Edward's from a 3-2 edge to an 8-2 lead and later stretched the margin to 12-3 in the first set. The Mustangs had answered the opening point with a Dickens and Scheer block, then got a Dickens kill from Scheer to stay within 3-2 before SEU pulled away. Mathis and TaNia Penn provided sideout kills through the middle of the set, and the Maroon & Gold put together three straight points to reach 11-18 behind two Hilltoppers attack errors and a Mathis kill from Scheer. Aaliyah Toppin added a late kill from Scheer at 16-22, but SEU scored three of the final four points to take the set 25-16.
The Mustangs claimed the second set 25-22 after overcoming a 16-13 deficit and holding off a late Hilltoppers response. Earlier, MSU traded points through the opening stretch behind kills from Mathis, Emerson Reedy, Penn, Toppin and Dickens, but SEU moved ahead 8-5 and later 16-13. The Maroon & Gold answered by winning seven of the next eight rallies, using kills from Toppin, Mathis and Dickens to tie the set at 16-16 before blocks involving Scheer, Reedy and Mathis helped push the lead to 20-17. The Hilltoppers came back to tie it at 22-22, but the Mustangs closed with a Penn-Reedy block, an SEU attack error and Toppin's kill from Jenna Redding to finish the set.
MSU was pushed into a 17-6 deficit when the Hilltoppers scored six straight points, including two service aces and two Mustangs attack errors. Earlier, the visitors fell behind 3-0 and 6-1 before getting sideout kills from Dickens and Mathis, both set by Scheer. Scheer also set Penn for a kill after an SEU service error made it 17-7, and Ella Koch added another kill as the Maroon & Gold reached double figures. Dickens and Scheer combined on a block that brought the score to 22-11, but the Hilltoppers scored the final three points to take the set 25-11.
The Mustangs' biggest push came late, when consecutive kills by Dickens brought the fourth set even at 18-18 after SEU had led 18-16. Earlier, MSU opened with a Mathis kill from Scheer and, after falling behind 8-3, cut the deficit to 9-7 behind a Toppin kill, a Redding service ace, a Dickens kill and a block by Dickens and Scheer. The Maroon & Gold kept answering through the middle of the set, getting kills from Mathis, Lillian Noble and Toppin while Dickens teamed with Mathis and Toppin on blocks that helped keep the margin tight. After the 18-18 tie, the Mustangs pulled within 20-19 on an SEU attack error and 21-20 on another Mathis kill, but the Hilltoppers scored the next three points and went on to take the set 25-21.
Midwestern State finishes the season with a 16-13 record. The Mustangs reached the LSC Postseason for the first time since 2020 season, setting a program record for the most LSC wins in a season with 11. St. Edward's improved to 18-10 with the victory.
-- MSUMustangs.com --
