Mustangs fall to No. 11 Flames in four sets

OMAHA, Neb. – In the second game of a back-to-back, the Mustangs fell to College of Saint Mary 28-26, 18-25, 21-25, 22-25 Saturday afternoon in Omaha. 

The Flames are No. 11 in the NAIA Coaches' Poll, and the Mustangs were playing their second road game in as many days after defeating Mount Marty in Yankton Friday night. 

The Mustangs hit .273 in the opening set to win the set 28-26. College of Saint Mary opened an early lead 11-6, but a 4-0 run trailing 15-11 tied the set at 15 all. From there on, things were tight. Morningside had a set point opportunity leading 24-22, but College of Saint Mary scored the next three points to get a set point chance of their own leading 25-24. With the set tied at 26, Payten Lode picked up a kill and the Flames committed an attack error to give Morningside a 28-26 win in set one. 

Set two was tied at 11, then the Flames scored four straight to take a 15-11 lead. The Mustangs weren't able to recover from that run and College of Saint Mary evened the match at one. 

A five point run from the Flames in set three turned a 10-8 Morningside lead into a 13-10 Flames lead. The Mustangs scratched back to even at 15 thanks to a three-point run capped by an Adelyn Harris kill. The Flames were able to slowly pull away to take a 2-1 lead in the match. 

Morningside hit .441 in the fourth set, committing one attack error on 34 total chances, but the Flames fire-power proved to be too much in the end.

Payten Lode totaled 19 kills to pace the Morningside attack. Sydney Marlow added 13 kills and 10 digs and Claire WIlson pitched in 10 kills. Aleksandra Dalach tallied 55 assists and nine digs. Payton Shoquist contributed 25 digs to lead the team. 

Next up for the Mustangs is a trip to Orange City to take on No. 2 Northwestern Wednesday.