MOORHEAD, Minn. - There was no doubt in the Minnesota State University Moorhead volleyball team coaches and players minds that they gave it all they had on Tuesday evening against the No. 5 ranked Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs, as the Dragons were playing in a new system that left them in somewhat unfamiliar territory as they have recently become short athletes due to injuries.

The Dragons surprised the top ranked team but could not quite complete the win after taking the first set, taking the loss in four sets (27-25, 26-28, 22-25, 23-25). The team was playing without senior Ashley Pyffereon who suffered an injury last week, this forced adjustments and position moves within Coach Blake-Kath's system.

The team moves to 12-12 overall and 8-8 in the league, while the Mustangs go to 22-3 overall and 14-2 in the conference.

In the first set, the Dragons came back from being down by as much as four, to tie the match at 23. The team's traded points until the game was tied again at 25, off of a block by Ashley Feldman and Heidi Lensing. A hitting error by the Mustangs would put the Dragons back in the lead for the first time since since the 5-4 mark in the set. Feldman and Lensing paired up again in the next volley to block another Mustang attack and capture the first set win.

The Mustangs snuck by the Dragons in the second set as they hit .326 to the MSUM .255. The four extra kills and two extra blocks by the Mustangs made the difference as they won 28-26. The same went for the third set as the Mustangs had 17 kills to the Dragons 11.

The fifth set was a heart-breaker for Dragon fans as the home team slowly climbed back from a seven point deficit (5-12) to tie the game at 17 and took the lead at the 20-19 mark. The Mustangs would eventually come back and tie at 22 before SMSU's aces, Mary Groth and Devin Diedrich would close out the match with kills.

The Dragons were led by Lensing who had 22 kills and 16 digs in the match. She also had four block assists. Kayla Handevidt, who played outside hitter for the first time infront of the home crowd, had 18 kills and one block assist. Laura Tvrdik picked up seven kills and six blocks. Feldman ended the night with nine block assists and three kills. Leigh Splittstoesser had 54 assists with nine digs.

The Mustangs were led by Diedrich who had 22 kills and five block assists. Groth finished with 18 kills, while Brokoe Burmeister had 19 kills on the night.

The Dragons will travel to Bemidji State on Friday, Nov. 5 to face the Beavers at 7 p.m.