The Midwestern State volleyball team competed in the Pittsburg State Regional Challenge and came out victorious against St. Mary’s (Texas) and Missouri Southern Saturday afternoon.

MSU played St. Mary’s in their opening game and served them a loss with scores of 19-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-18 after four games.

Freshman Setter Kristan Abduddell led the ten service aces with four, followed by Junior Setter Kimberly Jeffery making three aces while Hillary White, Katie Bertling and Kiara Jordan had one each.

Jordan led the Mustangs defensively with a total of 24 digs. Brandi Flores and White followed with 12 and ten digs respectively while Abdudell was close with six digs to her name.

The Mustangs offense was triggered by great effort from Senior Middle Blocker Miranda Byrd with 11 kills. Junior Outside Hitter Shelbi Stewart had ten kills and Sophomore Middle Blocker Caitlin Wallace had nine kills towards the Rattlers.

Byrd also led the scoring with 15.0 points. Wallace, Stewart and White followed with 11.0, 10.5 and 9.5 points which contributed greatly to the Mustangs overall 66.0 points against St. Mary’s.

Karlie Ortega led the Rattlers with a total of 13 digs, 12 kills and 13.5 points.

The Mustangs then crushed Missouri Southern University in three games with a score of 27-25, 25-18, and 25-22.

White had the most kills and points against Missouri Southern with 13 each.

Byrd, Flores and Wallace were also among the Mustang’s top offensive players with 8, 7 and 8 kills then 9.5, 8.5 and 10.0 points respectively. Together the four led MSU’s 55 point victory.

Jordan, at a great defensive mood, had the most digs on the court. She recorded 23 digs and three aces.

Head Volleyball Coach Venera Flores-Stafford expressed her view of the games.

“These wins feel good going into a hard week of conference competition,” she said. “We hope to see many students supporting us in the stands this week.”

The Mustangs will play Abilene Christian University  Thursday  then face Angelo State on Saturday.