SMSU falls; Reiss career over
Taylor Reiss, the unprecedented three-time Northern Sun Intercollegiate Player of the Year, saw her volleyball career at Southwest Minnesota State University end in heartbreaking fashion on Thursday.
The Mustangs, the No. 5 seed, fell to Concordia-St. Paul in five sets in the NCAA Division II Central Region quarterfinals in Kearney, Nebraska. The No. 4-seeded Golden Bears prevailed 22-25, 25-22, 25-16, 22-26, 16-14 victory.
It was the third time in four meetings that CSP has beaten the Mustangs this season.
SMSU finished the season with a 23-9 record. It was the final match for SMSU seniors Reiss and Kaylee Burmeister, both All-Americans.
Reiss, an outstanding 5-10 outside hitter from Taunton and a 2015 Minneota graduate, is one of only two volleyball players from SMSU to amass over 2,000 kills for a career. She led the Mustangs this season with 664 kills, kills-per-set at 5.80, and hitting percentage at .348. SMSU had earned a 15th straight NCAA tournament appearance.
The Mustangs bolted to a 5-1 in the opening set against CSP and closed it out on a thunderous kill from Reiss.
But the Golden Bears came roaring back to take the next two sets, closing out the third set on consecutive ace serves. SMSU would not go away quietly, though, eventually taking the fourth set 25-22 on a kill by Angela Young.
The Mustangs rallied from a 4-0 deficit to tie the final set 8-8.
But the Golden Bears then gained a 14-12 advantage before Reiss then put down a kill and a solo block to knot the match at 14-all. CSP then closed out the match on a kill by Brooklyn Lewis and an unforced error by the Mustangs.
Reiss and Young had 20 kills each for SMSU. Reiss also had eight digs. CSP defeated No. 8 Harding on Friday night to advance to the Central Region championship against No. 3 Washburn, but fell to the Topeka, KS-based college in five sets.
MORE HONORS FOR REISS: Aside from being named the NSIC Player of the Year for the third straight year, as well as being named all-NSIC first team four straight years, Reiss earned two other awards recently.
Reiss was named the Conference Commissioner’s Association (CCA) Central Region Player of the Year in an announcement last Wednesday.
It was the third straight season Reiss earned the CCA Region Player of the Year award and first team all-region honors.
The teams are voted by the region’s sports information directors, which consists of schools from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC), the Great American Conference (GAC), and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA).
She ranked first in the Central Region in kills, killer per set, points per set, attacks per set, and second in total attacks.
Reiss also was named to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-District 7 team, it was announced last Thursday.
The selection and announcement was made by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and recognizes the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom.
District 7 is made up of member schools from the NSIC, GAC and MIAA. Reiss currently carries a 3.38 GPA in Exercise Science this year.
She will now advance to the CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-America ballot, where first and second team All-Academic honorees will be selected in December.
The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) has not yet announced its choice for Player of the Year, an honor Reiss received last year and is one of the leading contenders for again this season.