Usually 22 kills by Natali Murdock (Phoenix, AZ, Pinnacle High School) results in a mark in the win column for WNMU, but that wasn't the case on Friday night at Western State College. The remaining 10 Mustangs to see court time recorded only 26 kills. Overall, WNMU hit only .124 on the night to fall to the Mountaineers, 3-1 (25-19, 24-26, 25-18, 25-21).

The Mustangs slip to 13-10 on the season and 10-7 in conference play. Western State improves to 11-13 overall and 6-11 in the RMAC. The loss puts the Mustangs in seventh place in the RMAC (at time of release). As it stands now, WNMU would face Mesa State in RMAC tournament. The two teams split during the regular season.

Hitting was not the only problem WNMU suffered. They also found the service line challenging with nine errors.

In the first set, WNMU led very early on (2-1), but two Western State service aces on the same rotation saw the Mountaineer lead jump to 11-4. WNMU got within two at the 16-14 mark but never fully recovered.

The two teams were neck-and-neck in the second set after WNMU put up five of their eight match blocks. On the second set-point, the Mustangs finally capitalized on back-to-back Western State hitting errors. Western State finished the set with 11 kills and 11 errors.

Western State's Madison Dempsey was the set changer in the third. The Mountaineers held a one-point lead at 12-11 when Dempsey rattled off six straight points, which included two service aces. Murdock finally stopped the rally with a kill, but WNMU had only three more kills after that to drop the third set, 25-18.

WNMU never saw the lead in the fourth and final set as they hit their lowest percentage of the night (.100).

Four Mustangs had double-figure dig performances with Alyssa Meihack (Fallon, NV, Churchill County High School) leading the way with 25. The freshman setter also had 39 assists.

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